Lucky Lucy is Where?
by f3liciachloe
Summary: After defeating Acnologia Lucy gets thrown through a portal and ends up in the Naruto Universe! Lucy will discover things that she never thought possible about herself, so much so that she might not even recognise herself. Trying to find a way back to Fairy Tail, will she even want to go back? Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Fairytail or the cover image, Contains Spoilers
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hey this story was originally posted on Wattpad but I thought it would be a good idea to post it here as well. I hope you guys enjoy it!**

"Come on Lucy, let's go on a job," Natsu called out as he climbed through Lucy's window with Happy flying right beside him.

"Okay, I'm coming," Lucy called from inside of her wardrobe, walking out in her usual outfit she walked into her kitchen to see it already messed up and her fridge empty. Looking towards the two culprits with her evil glare she started making her way to them but before she could kick them out they scrambled towards the window and jumped out. Stomping towards it she slammed and locked it behind them before walking back into the kitchen with a sigh and started cleaning up their mess before heading to the newly made guild hall.

It's been a month since the battle with Zeref and Acnologia and Magnolia was starting to look like it used to with everyone helping with the repairs. Lucy had just given her spirits some time off because they all had helped so much during and after the battle, so she was just going to have to use her star dresses for jobs for now. Walking into the guild Lucy started making her way towards the mission board looking for something that would suit her.

"Found anything yet Lucy?" she heard Natsu ask from behind her and she hummed, looking towards one that had a 500,000 jewel reward and saw that the job claimed a big pack of wyverns were terrorizing a town close to their nest. Showing it to Natsu, Lucy then skipped over to Gray and Erza who were sitting at a table close by.

"Hey, you guys want to come on a job with me, Natsu and Happy?" Lucy asked them looking hopeful because of the way Natsu and Happy were acting this morning she could tell that they were only going to get worse throughout the day and she wanted some company.

"Sorry Lucy, I'm already going to a job that was requested of me," Erza said looking up from her strawberry cake briefly before going right back to it.

"I already promised Juvia that I would go on a job with her today." Gray said looking apologetic, "Surely you and Natsu can handle a job just the two of you," he exclaimed,

"The job isn't really why I'm asking, those two seem to be in an annoy Lucy mood today," Lucy said hunching her shoulders while she heard Erza and Gray laugh.

"Um excuse me Lucy Carla and I would be happy to go with you," Wendy said as she walked over to Lucy.

"Really Wendy, you mean it?" Lucy asked as she glanced tearfully at Wendy and Carla, after seeing Wendy nod Lucy threw herself at Wendy and latched onto her small form. Erza and Gray continued to laugh at the blonde's actions even when the two girls and exceed started making their way over to Mira to get the job signed off.

Lucy was holding Wendy close to her as she turned blue when the train started moving while Natsu fell face first onto the train seat across from them. "are you okay Wendy?" Lucy asked as she moved Wendy into a lying position only to hear her gurgle before holding a hand to her mouth.

"H-how come you n-never help m-me," Lucy heard Natsu grumble and she turned to him,

"Because Wendy came to keep me company, it's my fault she has to ride the train," she responded while Carla nodded her head. "I have an idea, open gate of the clock constellation, Horologium." Once Horologium appeared Lucy asked if he could hold Wendy for most of the train ride, placing Wendy inside of Horologium she saw that colour was starting to return to her face.

"Thank you, Lucy I feel much better, she said thankfully," Horologium said as he settled onto the floor.

"Your c-cruel L-Lucy," Natsu tried to say while Happy flew around trying to give Carla a fish.

The train came to a stop and Lucy picked up the now sleeping Wendy and made sure that Natsu was getting off of the train they started walking towards the Mayor's house while still holding Wendy. After getting the information from the Mayor they all started walking towards the forest where the nest of wyverns was.

"Star dress Taurus," Lucy called out as they got closer to the wyvern nest, Wendy took a position further behind Nastu and Lucy while Nastu ran headfirst into the pack of the wyvern.

Lucy used her extendable whip to tie some of the wyverns together and throw them into Natsu's path so that he would punch them with his iron fist.

"Sky dragon roar," Lucy heard from behind her and five of the wyverns got pushed back hit some trees.

"Nice one Wendy," Lucy called to her young team member as she changed her star-dress into Leo's. "Regulous kick," Lucy shouted as she kicked a wyvern that was heading straight for her.

Seeing a couple of wyverns running towards a nearby cave Lucy and Happy split off and followed them while Natsu, Wendy and Carla said that they would finish the others off. Running through the cave Lucy came up with a plan to take down some wyverns, star dressing into Virgos form Lucy set up some trap holes to lead some wyverns into in case there were too many. Telling Happy to hide and wait in case something goes wrong Lucy changed her star dress yet again into Taurus form, Lucy ran out and tied a couple up before jumping up and slamming her fist into the third one and watched it falls to the ground, not giving it enough time to get back up Lucy put all of her strength to kick it into one of her trap holes. Turning to face the last one Lucy didn't notice that the ones she tied up were breaking free of her whip. Too busy trying to get the last wyvern into a hole Happy swooped down and grabbed Lucy right before one could smash her into the cave wall.

"Thanks, Happy, that was close," Lucy said trying to steady her breathing. Now figuring out how to deal with three instead of one but before she could do anything fire started to engulf one of the wyverns and Lucy turned to the source.

"Right on time Natsu," Lucy called as Happy placed her on the ground just behind him. "Where's Wendy and Carla?"

"Right here Lucy," Wendy called from behind her as both girls came running up to them. With all three wizards and two exceeds staring at the last two wyverns, Natsu and Wendy started to combine their attacks when Lucy saw something further down the cave, thinking it could lead to some more wyverns Lucy decided to follow it. Making her way through the cave Lucy passed some old paintings, markings that she had never seen before covered the wall; one of them looked to be a star above a circle with a cross through it and a stripe of black in the middle, separating the two; dragging her fingers across the wall Lucy's eyes caught sight of an old rusted key sitting on top of a rock. Slowly walking up to it Lucy tried to see if it was a celestial key of some kind but it was too dusty, picking it up to blow on it she coughed as dust blew everywhere but before she could look at the key she suddenly felt like she was being pulled.

Dropping the key Lucy grabbed onto her stomach as she felt it twist and turn before she suddenly felt like she was falling. Landing on her back Lucy grunted as she sat up and looked at her and noticed that trees surrounded her. "Where am I?" Hearing muffled voices Lucy started making her way quietly towards them, summoning Gemini and asking them to copy one of the people without letting them know they were there. She didn't know if she landed near a dark guild and she didn't want to walk into unnecessary trouble.

Gemini came back and transformed into the man that they copied, "So where am I?" Lucy asked once she realised that Gemini was staying silent.

"Well Miss Lucy you are in a completely different world," the devious twins said still transformed.

"Seriously?" Lucy asked hunching her shoulders, "Not again," she said and sighed, walking back into the clearing that she landed in Lucy started thinking about what she should do, according to the information that Gemini gave her. She was in some kind of ninja-based world and that people had abilities similar to magic. The person that Gemini copied wasn't a ninja though, so the information was limited, apparently, she was close to a place called the Land of Lightning and there is a small village not too far from where she is now. Deciding to camp out in the forest for the night while Crux gathers all of the information that Gemini gained from the person they copied.

Lucy called upon Virgo to help her set up camp and she was surprised to find that she didn't have any difficulty calling upon her spirits in this world. Deciding to test her limits Lucy also called upon Aries to add wool to her tent floor for her. Lucy sent them both back half an hour later and was surprised and excited to learn that she was still almost full of magic energy. After eating what Virgo had put out for her Lucy decided to meditate as Capricorn taught her until she exhausted herself and went to sleep.

Waking up the next morning Lucy started packing away her campsite and noticed something was very different, everything looked much larger than what it did yesterday. Confused Lucy summoned Virgo,

"You called Princess?" Virgo asked and bowed her head, looking back up Virgo looked around for her wizard, "Princess where are you, is this some kind of punishment?"

Looking up at her celestial spirit shocked, Lucy finally snapped out of it, "Down here Virgo, what happened to me?" Lucy mumbled the last part under her breath.

"Princess, why do you look to be six years old?"

"Ehh!" Lucy yelled out and started to feel her face and look down at her body. "When did this happen?" She asked trying not to freak out, Virgo stood in front of her looking just as confused as Lucy did.

"Your magic power seems to be the same but your physical appearance has definitely changed," Virgo stated as Lucy started pacing.

"What am I going to do? I am in a different world and I'm in a helpless body." Lucy yelled trying to come up with a coherent thought but kept panicking instead.

"Princess if I may just continue to find out as much about this world as you can and try to find a way back to Fiore, I'm sure we can worry about your size another time," Virgo stated while handing her a strawberry smoothie to try to calm her down. Disappearing for a second before coming back with clothes from the celestial world in her new size. (Just like Wendy's celestial outfit.)

Taking a deep breath Lucy nodded her head and took a big gulp of the smoothie, "at least this isn't the first time something like this has happened," Lucy grumbled as she gave her camping gear to Virgo and sent her back to the spirit realm. Walking in the direction that Gemini had pointed her in, on her way to the land of lightning. Silently communicating with Crux, Lucy was soaking up all of the information he was giving her and thought that it would be for the best if no one knew about her spirits. Deciding to lay low in this ninja world, and find a way to get home.

By the time the sun started to go down Lucy was one town over from the land of lightning and decided to stop for the night when she realised that she didn't have the currency of this world so she decided to camp out once again. Waking up before the sun came up Lucy started walking into the town and walked towards a bakery to see if they were willing to take her on for work, when she asked the young woman at the cashier she said that they weren't hiring but that Lucy could try the blacksmiths down the street because they were looking for apprentices but she also warned her not to get her hopes up because she was still a child.

Walking into the blacksmiths Lucy looked around and saw that it was actually a weapons shop and figured that the blacksmith was in the back. "Excuse me, anyone, here?" Lucy yelled trying to get someone's attention, cringing at her squeaky voice. Turning to her left when she heard a loud cough and started walking towards it. "Excuse me?" Lucy called out again,

"What is it, what do you want?" A rough sounding voice replied,

"Um, I'm new in town and I heard about your apprentice position and was wondering if you were willing to take me on?" Lucy asked as she turned the corner and spotted the man sharpening a small triangular knife.

The man looked at her before he started laughing, "a fragile ankle biter like you, a blacksmith?" He stuttered put before laughing all over again,

"Please? I really need the money, I'm homeless right now!" Lucy begged and looked hopefully up at him and added tears to her eyes hoping for some sympathy,

"Nice try kid, but no." Lucy frowned at this and sighed trying to think of a way to get him to accept so she wouldn't have to summon Gemini for hours on end every day, not only is that risk but Gemi and Mini have their own lives too.

"What if I could prove it to you?" Lucy asked,

"And how will you do that?" The man stated already bored with the conversation,

"If I can use at least two of the weapons in your shop successfully you take me on," Lucy stated confidently, she saw a bow and arrow set as she walked in and she was without a doubt that she could find something else to use.

"Alright I'll accept but you have to use them to my standard, if not it's back to the streets."

"Deal," Lucy said instantly and lifted her hand for him to shake, he looked at it for a second before he took it and shook it once before putting down what he was doing and lead her to the back door which held unfinished weapons and a forge in the back right corner, he led her to the left back corner that had a door. Opening it he leads her through and saw what looked to be a small training field with targets and tree stumps lying around.

"I'll set this up while you look for those weapons kid," his tone was bored and Lucy started to get nervous, wondering how much this body of hers could do considering she couldn't use her fleuve d'étoiles because he would be able to tell that it wasn't one of his designs. Walking towards where she saw the bow and arrows and picked out one that was the same height as her and a quiver with ten arrows that could be buckled around her waist. Testing the strength of the string to make sure that she could shoot and aim properly, she then went on to find a whip that she could use. Coming upon a white whip with a golden handle and crackle Lucy picked it up and examined it, testing its weight and length before walking towards the back.

The gruff man whom Lucy had yet to know the name of turned to look at her and looked at the bow and arrow slightly nodded to himself but when he looked at the whip he looked like he was trying to hold back a laugh. Ignoring him Lucy looked at the targets across the field and set up her shot, taking a deep breath Lucy let go of the arrow and it hit right in the centre. Taking out another arrow without turning to see the reaction of the man, Lucy tried to duplicate the results, letting go of the arrow she saw it land right next to the first arrow, still in the centre circle.

Taking a hold of the whip that Lucy had picked out she moves towards the tree stumps and prayed to Mavis that it worked, she uncurled the whip then sent it towards one of the stumps having it wrap around it before she used the whip to throw it across the field. Lucy sent the whip out again to yet another stump and landed a hit on it, making a loud cracking sound as it did. Taking a deep breath of relief at knowing that her body didn't affect her skills as bad she thought it would but knowing that it wasn't the best she could do, she turned to the man who was now staring at her in an unnerving way.

He turned around and started walking towards the door that leads back into the workshop and Lucy stood there staring at him before sighing and looking at the ground, "You coming or not ankle biter?" Lucy looked up suddenly at the statement and started smiling before running towards the man and following him into the workshop.

Following the man that Lucy now new as Axal-Sensei, around as he showed her where everything was and the spare room that she would be staying in. Axal-Sensei said that she could live with him as payment for the apprenticeship. Telling her of the schedule and her workload for each morning as he walked on, trying to memorise where everything was and what he was saying, Lucy couldn't help but think that the workload was a lot for a six-year-old but she didn't think it would be easy.

"You will wake up before dawn every morning and fill up the scrap metal crate ready for it to be melted down and reshaped. You will preheat the forge, clean the tools and set them up before I wake up. You will also be organising and putting away the weapons. Lastly, you will be cleaning anything in the store that needs to be cleaned until your lunch break." Axal-Sensei never stopped talking as he walked and Lucy made a mental note of everything he said before silently giving the information to Crux in case she forgot, she asked Horologium to set up an alarm and asked him to estimate how much time each task should take in her current condition.

Axal-Sensei stopped walking when they reached the shop and turned to her, "how much do you know about weapons?" He asked her,

"You just saw it," Lucy said cheekily, Axal-Sensei sighed and started mumbling under his breath.

"Okay looks like I'm going to have to spend time teaching you about them before you can start making them. I'll give you rundown on each weapon in the shop and I want you to memorise everything before the end of the month." Lucy made a mental note about it to Crux and swallowed loudly because Horologium just told her that the end of the month is two and a half weeks away.

The old man smirked at her nervous form, "You can always quit kid," he pointed out, "you'll be back on the streets if you can't memorise everything anyway." He added just to see her start sweating, never having known anything about weapons except for what Sagittarius taught her. _'I really should have asked Erza to teach me when I had the chance'._ Lucy thought to herself.

"You will have two hours after dinner for free time but then you'll have to clean and pack everything away." Axal-Sensei finished explaining before walking towards where the dining room was. There was no lounge room but there really was no need for one with all of the work that needed to be done.

Walking her towards her room he looked at her again before continuing, "If you can remember everything about the weapons by the end of the month you can decorate this room however you like, you can even paint it." He stated although he looked doubtful, Lucy nodded anyway and ignored the look, she knew she could do it but she was going to have to cheat a little and use some magic.

After making the bed in her new room Lucy started dusting and cleaning the room top to bottom. It was full of dust and looked like no one had ever used it before. Deciding against asking Virgo for help no matter how tempting Lucy could only communicate with her spirits until she trained more so that they could help her without being seen. Touching Horologium key and realised that she still had an hour until Axal-Sensei said to meet him in the workshop Lucy asked Crux to gather as much information about weapon making as he could and to be ready to take in as much information as possible for when Axal-Sensei explains. Lucy also contacted Gemini and asked if they could copy Axal-Sensei when he goes to sleep so that the information can be repeated if necessary.

Smiling at the thought of her best information gathering spirits and how willingly they were to help her get back to fairytail. Walking down to the shop once again and started looking around at all of the weapons admiring all of the designs and the variation in them. A triangularly shaped knife, similar to the one that Axal-Sensei was sharpening yesterday stood out to her.

This knife's handle was pure silver but had the constellation of Aquarius engraved on it. Feeling her throat close up Lucy tried to hold back tears, now that she was in this world it would be even more unlikely to find Aquarius.

"That kunai was a part of a set once." Axal-Sensei's rough voice came from behind her. "It was the first complete set that I made, one day the place got ransacked and the rest were stolen. That was the knife I was working on that day so it wasn't on display yet." He explained.

Lucy turned to look at him after taking a deep breath to hide her emotional state. "It's beautiful," she whispered to him trying not to think about the past.

"It's the constellation of Aqua..."

"Aquarius, I know," Lucy interrupted him and turned away from the knife, still trying to forget. "So what weapon will I learn about first?" She asked and started walking towards him, he looked at her confused for a moment before shrugging it off and walked over to the swords and started talking. Crux capturing every word while Lucy was trying to remember as much as she could with her mind elsewhere.

That night Lucy got Crux to record all of the information that was gathered into a book for Lucy to read and she studied until Axal-Sensei said it was lights out _. 'Apparently, I have a curfew now'_. Lucy thought to herself as she settled in for the night.

Lucy woke to the alarm clock that Horologium set up for her the next morning and jumped up when she realised that she had work to do. Quickly getting dressed and putting up her hair she ran down the stairs and grabbed an apple from the kitchen table. Running into the workshop to preheat the forge like Axal-Sensei showed her and then going over to the pile of scrap metal in the corner. Wondering how she was going to lift it in her body, Lucy grabbed as much as she could (which wasn't a lot) and heaved it over to the crate. Taking note to ask Capricorn to help her with muscle building after the day is over.

After filling the crate Lucy was already exhausted but went and got out Axal-Sensei's tools and started cleaning them with the supplies that he instructed her to use. After setting them up the way she saw them yesterday Lucy heard the roof creek, meaning someone was walking around upstairs.

Racing into the shop she grabbed a duster and broom and started cleaning, hoping to be done before Axal-Sensei opened up. Putting away any stray weapons she saw lying around as she goes. Lucy didn't look up as she heard the door open but she did when she didn't hear any more footsteps.

Lucy saw Axal-Sensei staring at her and she was started to get a little creeped out. Sweat-dropping a little Lucy went back to sweeping the shop, but she stopped after five minutes when she realised he was still there. "Good morning," Lucy called out to him cautiously, not really knowing what to say.

"I thought you would still be asleep," he replied, not returning her greeting.

"You said you wanted things done before you woke up," Lucy stated like it was obvious, momentarily forgetting that she was meant to be six, not eighteen.

Without replying he went into the workshop, probably looking around to see if anything was incorrect or not done. Lucy went back to work while stating everything she knew about the weapons that she went passed and Crux telling her if she was right or wrong.

 **Time skip a few hours**

Wiping the sweat off of her forehead from lifting a sword that was twice her size onto the mount on the wall Lucy heard her stomach grumble. Noticing that it was lunch already Lucy went to the kitchen and made herself a sandwich before she heard the door open. Looking towards it she saw Axal-Sensei walking to the table and plopping himself onto a chair. "Would you like one Axal-Sensei?" Lucy asked showing him her sandwich to which he nodded, handing him her already made one she started to make another for herself.

Finishing her lunch Lucy looked towards Axal-Sensei and asked him for something else to do because she was finished cleaning the shop. Looking slightly surprised he said that she could have some free time, excited Lucy ran out towards the training field and mentally asked Capricorn to teach her something without summoning him. Little did Lucy know that Axal-Sensei was watching her do the exercises that Capricorn was talking her through.

Over the course of the next week, Lucy kept exceeding Axal-Sensei's expectations, although he never admitted it and most probably never would but by this time Lucy had almost memorised all of the weapons in the shop, the parts and attachments on the weapons and what they were made out of. Lucy didn't know if she was going to be asked all of this or not but it was better to be on the safe side, she wanted to take notes on how Axal-Sensei made them as well but hadn't had the chance as of yet.

Lucy had also started wearing training weights on her arms and legs but they were only 5kg each. Capricorn had suggested them to get her use to heavy lifting and said that he would make them heavier each week but he wouldn't tell her how heavy he was going to make them. Every time Lucy trained in basic martial arts Axal-Sensei would watch her but never make himself known.

Lucy had yet to do any more research on Ninjas but she did end up finding a scroll on chakra on a shelf in the workshop. Lucy hasn't made any progress in that either but she has been meditating every night, Capricorn has a theory that since magic is so similar to chakra that it would be hard to distinguish the difference between the two. Today while Lucy was training in the small field Axal-Sensei finally made himself known, he walked out onto the field and stood in front of her just as she was about to punch the tree log. Looking confused at him she stopped,

"Is there something you needed?" Lucy asked wondering if she forgot to do something before her break.

"Hit me," was all he said, blinking up at him Lucy was startled.

"Excuse me?"

"Hit me," he said again, shrugging Lucy got into her stance and lunged at him punching him in the stomach before getting back into position. "I don't know why I expected more," Axal-Sensei said after she relaxed her stance. Frowning at him Lucy looked at him slightly annoyed.

"Thank you for that, like I didn't already know that I suck," was all she said but on the inside, she was screaming mad.

Shaking his head, Axal-Sensei looked amused, "You know I was a taijutsu and weapons specialist back in the day," he said to her looking smug,

"Okay, good for you," Lucy said and turned towards a different log, not noticing Axal-Sensei frown and slightly sweatdrop.

"I can train you if you want," he said suddenly before Lucy could throw a punch. Turning she looked back at him,

"Really?" After seeing him nod Lucy smiled and turned towards him fully, "Okay great, one question though, what's taijutsu?" Axal-Sensei anime dropped to the ground at her question and should have thought this decision through more.

 **Back at the guild**

People were running around everywhere even though they looked like they hadn't slept in years. They were shouting and looked to be holding in tears, suddenly a giant hand smacked into the ground and everyone went silent and looked towards their guild master who was in his wheelchair.

"My children it has been over a week since our Lucy went missing and have yet to find a trace. I have sent a word out to other guilds for them to keep an eye out but I feel as if it is time to call back the search parties and take a break." Master Makarov said gravely, hesitation could be heard in his voice as if he never wanted to say this.

"What are you talking about gramps? We have to find Lucy!" Natsu yelled furious from the first floor.

"And we will, but everyone here is tired, stressed and worried. We can think and search better after a good rest, but I make this vow. We will find our Nakama or we will die trying!" Makarov said sternly knowing that it wouldn't calm the boy but it would at least make him determined to find his teammate even if he has to rest.

 **Back with Lucy**

"Achoo!" Lucy sneezed and hoped that she wasn't coming down with a cold on her first day of taijutsu training after Axal-Sensei explained what taijutsu was Lucy was more determined to train and exercise, to be able to surpass a master would probably take her years the way she was going.

Axal-Sensei changed her stance and told her to focus more on her legs then her arms and taught her how to kick the tree stump. When Lucy asked when they were going to move onto different techniques and adding arms into training, Lucy got the shock of her life.

"Once you have destroyed the tree stump we'll move on." He simply stated before going back down to the workshop and told Lucy not to come inside for dinner.

After multiple failed attempts to even land a scratch on it with her kicks Lucy sat down to think. When Axal-Sensei explained how taijutsu worked he mentioned that chakra wasn't allowed to be used (not that she could anyway,) but without it, she probably will never be able to destroy the stump. The only other way was to strengthen her legs but that could take months, according to Capricorn and using her Taurus star dress would probably be obvious. With leg strengthening being her only option Lucy asked Capricorn to increase her weights and to start giving her leg exercises until she could find another way to do it.

Struggling to lift her feet off if the ground due to the adding weight Lucy started to try doing laps around the field only to keep falling over. By the end of the day, Lucy had worked herself up to speed walking around the field before she had to go back inside for dinner.

For the next few days Lucy worked in the morning and trained with her legs after lunch then cleaned up and meditated after dinner before going to bed, by the time the fifth day of her new training with Axal-Sensei came around Lucy had managed to break off a layer of bark to the tree stump and run five full laps around the field. Feeling more determined than ever Lucy asked Capricorn to increase her weights yet again, and do her training all over again.

"Axal-Sensei how do you use chakra?" Lucy asked that day at dinner, "I mean, I understand in theory but I haven't been able to use any externally."

"I don't sense a lot of chakra coming from you so either you have too little and have to increase the amount or you need to have it unlocked. There are people who can't use chakra at all and rely solely on taijutsu," he explained and Lucy frowned wondering if she would be able to use it considering she isn't even from this world.

"After you've destroyed that stump I'll see if I can unblock it or give you ways to increase it though, so if you want to use it that badly I suggest you hurry up." Axal-Sensei said sternly, "and don't forget that you have to tell me what all of the weapons are in the shop in two days." After saying that he got up and washed his plate before going to the bathroom most likely to take a shower.

Smirking slightly when he left the room Lucy almost laughed because she knew that he was trying to scare her. When she probably could have recited everything to him a few days ago but wanted the extra days just in case, feeling confident about the test Lucy washed her plate and went down to the workshop to start cleaning up.

Two days later Lucy was standing in front of Axal-Sensei as he stood leaning against the wall smirking down at her looking confident that she wouldn't be able to remember all of the information he told her just over two weeks ago. Lucy started leading him around the store reciting what he told her about each weapon, while also adding what materials were used for each one only stumbling a few times when Axal-Sensei asked her a question about some of the weapons and was suddenly glad that she had gone the extra mile in her studying. By the end, Lucy was standing confidently in front of him even though she was internally screaming with nerves.

"So do I pass?" Lucy asked him after standing there for a few minutes. Axal-Sensei sighed with a defeated look suddenly appearing on his face, as if finally accepting that she was probably going to be one of the best apprentices to take on, despite how annoying he found her.

Patting her on the head he said, "You pass ankle biter," before turning around and going back into the workshop. Lucy touched her head where his hand use to be and smiled before going back to work.


	2. Chapter 2

It wasn't until two weeks later that Lucy was able to destroy the stump and start working on her chakra use. Axal-Sensei made Lucy sit on the ground with her legs crossed and arms out.

"Is this going to hurt?"

"Not at all," Axal-Sensei said lightly before Lucy started screaming in pain. The pain she felt was similar to when she got her second origin released, collapsing on the ground Lucy turned her head towards him and glared. "If I told you, you wouldn't want to do it." He simply stated

Getting up off of the ground Lucy still glared at him, "I've been through worse than that," it was true, unlocking the second origin was worse, and it lasted longer as well. Lucy went back to studying the chakra scroll to see if she could use it separately to her magic. After reading the scroll and meditating and still having no luck with using chakra Lucy sighed and Axal-Sensei looked confused,

"You definitely should be able to use it I can sense your chakra quite well and I'm not even trying, it shouldn't be this difficult to use," he stated, "maybe you should start with some chakra control exercises, the easiest one if to get a leaf to stick to your skin somewhere. I want you to try sticking it to your hands first," he said and gave Lucy a leaf, nodding to herself Lucy focused her chakra or what she hoped was her chakra into her hand and started to move her hand into a vertical position only to have the leaf slide right off.

After the leaf sliding off of her hand five times, Lucy began to get frustrated and mentally asked Capricorn and Crux to help her. One suggestion they told her really stood out.

"You have to concentrate on your chakra so try thinking of it in a different way to magic." Crux started,

"The scroll keeps referring to your chakra reserves as a pool, while whenever someone talks about magic they refer to a container," Capricorn continued,

"So try utilising this whenever you are focusing on your chakra, magic is like second nature to you now so until you can use chakra like that you need to be able to tell the difference inside your own body," Crux finished, Lucy nodded at their explanation and started to meditate again, but this time Lucy was trying to locate her chakra pool instead of trying to absorb nature's energy.

Lucy didn't know how long she looked but suddenly she heard what sounded like a drip echoing inside of herself and she mentally felt herself walking forwards only stopping when she felt like she was standing on water. Taking a deep breath Lucy opened her eyes and focused on her hand with the leaf on it and started turning it upright, the leaf ended up sticking to her hand for a few seconds before it dropped. Smiling Lucy kept practising, experimenting and playing around with the leaf and sticking it to different parts of her body such as her forehead.

After being able to stick multiple leaves to herself Lucy asked Axal-Sensei what to do next, he told her to walk up a tree with no hands then continue with her taijutsu training. Focusing her chakra on her feet Lucy tried walking up only to slide back down, after readjusting the amount of her chakra she tried over and over again until she finally got it right. Continuing until she could do it without having to focus Lucy then asked Capricorn to increase her weights yet again and continue with her taijutsu training.

A week later Lucy finally got a day off and decided that she and Crux would do some research in the local library. After all, Lucy still knows almost nothing of this world, she's lucky that Axal-Sensei doesn't like to talk much or else he would be even more suspicious than he already was. Lucy didn't even know the currency of this world and she wanted to learn all that she could so she wouldn't draw attention to herself.

Once she got to the library she asked to set up a library card and she went off to the history section first, thinking it would be a good place to start. Quietly summoning Loke she told him to come in his human form, once he came Lucy asked him to grab as many books from the top shelves as he could and then follow her to a table with her own arms full of material. After reaching the table Lucy pulled out her Gale Force glasses and was speed reading through as many books as possible while transferring the information to Crux as she went. After spending hours in the library Lucy finally made it to the ninjutsu section but once she realised the time she borrowed as many books as she was allowed to on the subject, trying to brush off the suspicious glances she got from the librarians and walked back the way she came, Loke had gone back to the spirit world a few hours ago after catching him flirting with the younger librarians.

Racing into her room that she has yet to decorate Lucy tried to find a place for most of the books she borrowed when she realised that she could ask Virgo and Crux to look after them for her. Reading a book that explains the chakra natures and basic ninjutsu, Lucy took mental noted of the hand signs and conversed with Crux about how they worked and why they were used, basically, they were like saying spells, the better and the more you used then the less you'll need them. Like how Lucy strengthened the bond with her spirits and now she didn't even need to call Loke for him to know that she needed him.

Lucy started running through the hand signs and memorising how which was which before she read onwards, she figured she could actually try to do a ninjutsu tomorrow morning. The next part she read was about the chakra nature's and how each had their own strengths and weaknesses against each other, it also explained how everyone is born with at least one of them and that the others can be unlocked later on with usage. However, it also states that it is only a theory for someone to unlock all of them, Lucy thought that it would be near impossible for someone to unlock all of them. That would be like have five different types of magic, and not just any magic but caster type magic, being a holder-type mage herself learning how to use ninjutsu might be difficult.

Glancing down at the book once more Lucy saw that there was a way for someone to find out their chakra nature, through a piece of chakra paper. If you channel your chakra into the paper it will show you your chakra nature. It will get wet for water, burn for fire, split for wind, crinkle for lightening and crumble for earth.

Thinking that it would be a good starting point Lucy made her way to Axal-Sensei and asked if he had any of that paper. After looking through his old bookshelf Axal-Sensei finally found one and gave it to her after complaining about how annoying she was. Rolling her eyes before focusing her chakra into the paper Lucy was surprised to find that it crinkled before it split in half. Frowning slightly Lucy looked up at Axal-Sensei confused,

"I thought people were only born with one chakra nature," she stated,

"There are rare cases when they are born with two but it is almost unheard of, the only ones I've ever heard about were those with a kekkei Genkai (bloodline trait,") Axal-Sensei answered also frowning

"So what does this mean for me?" Lucy mumbled not really asking him but was generally worried, not only that but I thought for sure it would be water, Lucy thought to herself as Axal-Sensei rubbed his stubbled chin.

"I've never heard of a kekkei Genkai that combines wind and lightning before, we'll just have to see how it goes maybe you'll figure out how to fuse them together or something," he replied shrugging trying not to look too interested but if you looked hard enough he was looking Lucy up and down. Just who are you, Lucy?

Waking up the next morning Lucy summoned Virgo and asked her to bring her the box that she keeps her letters in. When the fight between Zeref and Fiore happened Lucy asked Virgo to keep it safe and only remembered because she had a dream about her mother last night. Once Virgo had brought her the box Lucy noticed a change, the inside was decorated with all of the constellations that she had contracts with, the outside, however, had the FairyTail symbol on it. Looking up at Virgo for an explanation,

"The Celestial King did this for you, Princess, once Loke told him about your circumstances he wanted to do something so that you knew that we are still here for you, Capricorn came up with designing the box,' Lucy started to get slightly teary-eyed at how wonderful her spirits were to her and after expressing her thanks, Virgo went back to the spirit world and Lucy decided to tell her mother everything that has happened.

 **Lucy's Letter:**

 _Dear mum,_

 _You wouldn't believe how these last few weeks have been. I got separated from FairyTail, actually from all of Earth Land. I seem to have ended up in some wacky ninja world, I have a Sensei that has taken me in and is currently training me in taijutsu and weapons as well as how to make them. I'm grateful for what he has done but he seems suspicious of me because I know nothing about this world, I wonder how everyone at the guild is._

 _No doubt Natsu and Happy are probably going nuts destroying things trying to find me, Erza is probably beating herself up and so will Wendy, not to mention how Gray will react. I miss them all so much mum, I've been trying to keep myself busy so I won't have to think about it. I haven't been able to search for a way home yet either because I know basically nothing yet, I don't even know if this world has portals or a way to create them._

 _I wonder if there is a time difference between our worlds, hopefully, time runs faster here so they won't have to worry as long. No doubt Master is trying to keep everyone calm but while worrying himself silly, do you think there is a way home mum? I hope you and dad are happy, I hope you're not worried about me either, I have a feeling FairyTail is worried enough as is._

 **End Lucy's Letter**

After writing her letter she tried to put it into the box only to find that she couldn't open it up, wondering how she got it open before Lucy ran her hands over it trying to feel for a way to open it up. Running her hand over the top she felt something tingle within her right hand and noticed that the FairyTail symbol on top of the box glowed slightly, placing her insignia on top of the one on the box Lucy heard a click and the box opened.

Lucy smiled at the box thinking that her spirits really did think of everything. Once Lucy had finished with the box she went down and did her usual morning routine before running through the hand signs that she memorised yesterday.

 **Time skip because I'm lazy**

That night Lucy and Axal-Sensei were out in the training field, Lucy was using everything that she had learned in taijutsu to try and land a hit on her sensei. Everything she threw at him he either dodged or caught it, even after she took off her training weights. Lucy was just about to kick him in the head before he caught her foot yet again and threw her into a tree, resting against it Lucy tried to catch her breath.

"You have improved," Axal-Sensei said lightly, "but you still need to work on your speed and stamina, it doesn't matter how strong you are if you can't keep up or keep going." Lucy nodded taking in the information,

"I want you to increase your weights twice a week now, also I want you to run double the laps that you have been every day, this should help speed up the process so we can finally work on weapons," Axal-Sensei finished explaining before he made her show him the twelve hand signs, after this he showed him the hand signs for the substitution Jutsu. He walked back inside after saying that he wouldn't show her another Jutsu unless she completed that one. Spending the rest of the night adjusting her chakra while doing the hand signs Lucy eventually got to a point where she didn't even need the hand signs to do the Jutsu.

Lucy cleaned everything up and then went back outside with her beginners in ninjutsu book and practised the hand signs for the transformation Jutsu until she memorised them and attempted to transform into various things she found in the training field, such as kunai and tree stumps. Lucy then went to bed and meditated until she passed out from exhaustion.

Waking up the next morning Lucy realised that her whole body was sore, it had been sore almost every morning since she started training but this has got to be the worst day. Pushing herself out of bed Lucy made her way down into the workshop and did her morning jobs then went into the training field and attempt to run laps with her ever-increasing training weights. Lucy ended up falling over exhausted by the end of the tenth lap and was mentally crying at the thought of doing that all over again before she had dinner. Axal-Sensei was watching her try to stand up with an amused look on his face before finally walking over and helped her sit up before giving her a strawberry smoothie. Lucy looked up at him in surprise and looked confused as she was taking the smoothie.

"I see you drink one almost every day," Axal-Sensei said before walking back into the workshop, smiling Lucy started sipping the smoothie before getting into a meditative position.

Over the next month, Lucy had quickly improved her taijutsu and ninjutsu skills and because of her fast development, Axal-Sensei has finally decided to teach her how to work with and make weapons. Lucy was excited to learn how to use weapons, if you had talked to her a few months ago Lucy probably would've been scared to learn how to use a weapon that wasn't a whip or bow and arrow but because of her training and close proximity to them Lucy started to admire the beauty behind them and now understood Erza's love for weaponry and armour.

Lucy's taijutsu training got harder and went for longer each day and now Lucy could run thirty laps around the training field with her weights on before she started to get puffed out, she could also land a couple hits on Axal-Sensei, none of them did anything to him but she could still do it which is an achievement in itself, it means that she got faster. Lucy was currently skipping in front of Axal-Sensei and humming to herself, unknown to her that Axal-Sensei had a soft look in his eye and a hint of a smile on his face before he wiped them away completely.

"Okay, we'll start with kunai and shuriken first, both in training and how to make them. You will be making them first before you use them, meaning that you'll be making your own weapons. If you don't make them properly you won't get to train with them you see," Axal-Sensei stated as he walked over to the workstation to grab her some gloves and an apron off of the wall.

Axal-Sensei then explained how to use all of the equipment that she'll need to make the kunai and which materials will be needed. Lucy went through all of the steps carefully with Axal-Sensei watching the entire time, making sure she didn't burn herself. At the end of the day, Axal-Sensei and Lucy were looking at the end result of her hard work before Axal-Sensei burst out laughing and Lucy looked down embarrassed of what she created.

"What even is that?" Axal-Sensei managed to get out before taking a glance at it and started laughing again. Lucy kept looking at the ground disappointed that she failed in making her first weapon, Axal-Sensei finally stopped and looked at her only to see that her hair was covering her face and she was still looking at the ground. "Come with me kid," at the latest he started walking towards his bedroom and Lucy silently followed him.

Once in his room, Axal-Sensei rummaged through his closet before taking out an old box that had dust on it and handed it to Lucy. "Well, what are you waiting for, open it," he said roughly when he saw that she was just holding the box in the middle of his room. Walking over to the bed she sat down and placed the box on her lap and opened it up, inside was what looked to be a scrap piece of metal.

"What is it?" Lucy asked frowning,

"That's the first kunai I ever made," he said and ran his hand through his hair looking away for a moment before looking back down at Lucy, "making weapons is just like training, you don't get good at it right away. You need to practice," he said ' _besides you've picked up everything else so fast it's about time you find something you're bad at,'_ he thought to himself.

Lucy got a determined look on her face and ran out of Axal-Sensei's room and down into the workshop once again to repeat the process. Axal-Sensei was still in his room looking at the door that Lucy just ran through and sighed. ' _I'm getting soft',_ he thought as he got up and walked down to the workshop and kept an eye on Lucy while she used the equipment, occasionally pointing out mistakes.

This went on every day for a week before Lucy finally made a working kunai and once again Axal-Sensei was gobsmacked. It took me twice as long to make a kunai that could even be thrown straight let alone a fully functional one, he thought slightly annoyed that he once again had to find something that she was bad at. Sighing to himself he then proceeded to tell Lucy how to throw them and even gave her a demonstration in the training field before walking inside, hoping that this will be the thing that she's bad at.

Lucy continued practising with her kunai and some of the spares that Axal-Sensei had laying around, practising from different angles and while moving even trying some with her eyes closed or her back was turned (although they didn't go so well,) Lucy thought to herself about what Axal-Sensei showed her earlier that day and was generally surprised when he told her something about himself. Because he seems like a naturally reserved person, he didn't seem to be the type to open up just to make someone feel better. Maybe it was because she looked like a child and was working hard to succeed in his training.

Lucy kept going until Axal-Sensei called her in for dinner and she threw the kunai one last time and turned around before it hit the target and went inside smiling because she knew that she hit the centre.

Over the next few weeks Lucy made several different weapons and learned how to use them, she also started noticing the difference in her body compared to what it was on Earth land when she was this young. She was more toned out and flexible, she also noticed that she had way more energy as the days went by and could train for longer periods of time.

Lucy was researching different weapons that she wants to train with and found a page on Halberds, because of her size and lack of strength a mid-range weapon would be more suitable for her, also because her chakra natures can be used mid to long range, they would be able to be combined with the Halberd.

Lucy had seen only one Halberd in Axal-Sensei's shop and it was all rusty and covered in dust. Wondering why she decided to go back and ask him but not before grabbing more books on her weapon of choice.

 **Time skip because I'm lazy! XD**

"Halberds are a particularly old weapon, not many use them most youngsters don't even know what they are," Axal-Sensei explained while he sharpened an axe that she had seen him cut logs within the training field. Lucy looked down at the book she was holding and looked at all of the designs until one stood out to her.

It was electric blue and the tip was that of a spear, the axe was shaped like a half a circle but the whole weapon was slim and elegant. When Lucy looked at it in more detail she could see that it was made more for speed instead of power and that is exactly what she was going for in a weapon. Asking Axal-Sensei to instruct her in how to make the one she had her eye on. Lucy made mental notes about what she wanted to change or add to her weapon of choice.

Axal-Sensei sighed and nodded his head once Lucy finished explaining why she wanted a halberd as her primary weapon, he told her everything that she needed to make it. Starting with the spear tip and working her way down until over a week later it was finally finished. Lucy had been training with her Halberd every day since it had been finalised and Axal-Sensei concluded that she was ready to be taught more something new.

Axal-Sensei leads Lucy out into the forest that was just outside the town and continued walking until they came upon a river, "walk on it," was all Axal-Sensei said before looking at Lucy expectantly. Lucy looked at Axal-Sensei confused,

"Walk on the water, as in on top of it?" Lucy asked him and he nodded his head, "how am I supposed to do that?"

"You figure it out, in a fight your enemy isn't going to tell you how to defeat them are they?" was all he said before turning around and walking away, "Don't come back until you've completed the task," he yelled back behind him and he continued walking through the forest back towards the town. Let's see how well you do now ya ankle biter, Axal thought to himself. Lucy's jaw dropped open and she stared at his back in disbelief and only turned back towards the river once she could no longer see him.

Frowning Lucy sat on the ground and stared at the river in thought, what kind of person leaves a six-year-old in the middle of the forest alone? Lucy silently asked herself, probably the kind that wouldn't ask what a six-year-old was doing looking for an apprenticeship in a blacksmith. Lucy sighed, she knew that she wasn't really six but Axal-Sensei didn't know that, grumbling to herself about how irresponsible he is she started running through everything that Axal-Sensei has taught her so far to see which one would best to complete this task.

Weaponry wouldn't help her here and neither would taijutsu, the only ones that would have a chance at working would be chakra control or ninjutsu but she didn't know any water jutsus, so Lucy concluded that using her chakra would be the best way to go.

Lucy stood up and walked towards the river concentrating her chakra into her feet before carefully stepping onto the water only to her foot slip right through. Lucy tried adjusting her chakra level but whenever she tried the most she could do was take a few steps before falling in this water.

Sitting on the edge of the river with her feet in the water Lucy wondered why she kept slipping. Sighing Lucy started kicking her feet before widening her eyes in realisation. The water moves, therefore her chakra level needs to move with it. She didn't have to constantly change it while she was running up the tree because it was a still surface. Water is constantly moving and unstable.

Standing up with newfound determination Lucy Carefully stood on the water and adjusted her chakra to be able to stand on it then weakening it whenever the water rose and strengthening it when the water sink. Doing this Lucy could walk towards the other side and back before losing her footing and jumping onto the edge of the river. Continuing this for the rest of the day Lucy could how to run along the river until she didn't have enough chakra left to hold her up. Smiling at this accomplishment Lucy ran back to the blacksmiths all the while thinking about food because she hasn't eaten since breakfast this morning.

 **Time skip next day.**

"Axal-Sensei, what is a ninja?" Lucy asked while she cleaned the workshop,

"What do you mean?" she heard him question back,

"I mean, what do they do exactly? Why are they needed and for what reasons?" she questioned, "I mean I read about the Great Ninja Wars and everything but I'm still not quite sure why they're needed."

"Well, nowadays they're needed for protecting their village, you how each village has a Kage? Well, they work under them, the Kage is responsible for the safety of their village and their ninja's. They send their ninja out on missions or jobs, usually gathering information or escorting civilians or upper class and eliminating rogues or enemy ninja. Ninja take orders from their Kage, they have a choice to refuse missions but only for a plausible reason." Axal-Sensei explained.

Lucy looked down at the ground, "So every decision is made by one person?" Lucy asked,

"Well they usually have a council of sorts to help with the big decisions, such as choosing another Kage or any rising threats but the Kage had the final say."

"When you said eliminating enemy's or rogue ninja, do you mean uhm." Axal-sensei looked up at Lucy then because she was struggling to get the words out. It's not like she has never seen someone die, or even play a part in their death but to actually think that theirs a legal job that specialises in the assassination. That's inhumane, if she's learnt anything in her life it's that all life is sacred. Lucy was frowning at this point. "I will never be a ninja," Lucy suddenly declared out loud and Axal-Sensei looked at her with his eyebrows raised. Lucy picked up her halberd and started heading towards the training field.

"If you don't want to be a ninja then why are you still training?" he questioned her, Lucy stopped walking for a moment before answering still not facing him.

"Being a ninja and having the strength to protect the people I care about are two completely different things," she said as she walked out of the door and leaving Axal-Sensei in shock behind her.


	3. Chapter 3

It's been six months since Lucy got transported into this ninja world and she has improved so much since then, her favourite form of fighting would have to be ninjutsu because of how easily she picked it up, although her taijutsu would be what she was best at because of all the training that Axal-Sensei put her through on a daily basis. Lucy had written a letter to her mother almost every day since her spirits gave her the box and lately, she has had more time to do research on finding a way back to FairyTail.

Lucy's discovered a thing in Space-time Jutsu but that only really applied to teleport things from one place to another throughout a singular world. It was unlike summoning her spirits, who were from a different world. Even if Lucy had something of importance to someone in fairytail she'd doubt that it would work. If she was going to attempt something like that she would need to majorly modify both the jutsu and her summoning magic.

 **Back in FairyTail six months after Lucy disappeared.**

"We stand here now to honour our lost Nakama and to promise that we won't lose hope that she is still out there somewhere." Master Makarov said choking back tears as he stood in front of the memorial stone that FairyTail had put up beside Lucy's parents grave. Tears welling up in people's eyes and sorrow looks on people's faces as they remembered their comrade. Still hoping that she was alive somewhere.

A pink haired boy stood at the very front, clutching a broken key in his hand that he found at the last job that they had taken together. A little blue cat sobbed on his shoulder.

After the ceremony, only two remained, the pink haired boy and the crying blue cat. The boy had a fierce look on his face, "I promised her Happy, I promised her that we would have adventures forever," he said before he turned and walked away with the cat looking back at the stone rubbing his eyes.

 **Back with Lucy**

Lucy sighed as she realised that she would need in-depth knowledge on seals, not to mention the ability to even do space-time Jutsu's at all. As far as Lucy read, doing a space-time Jutsu takes a lot of chakra and concentration. So it was best to start small and learn some seals and how to undo them as well as how to summon a summoning animal in this world first. Deciding to ask Axal-Sensei about seals and where to start, everything Lucy read never specified on seals.

On the way back to the blacksmiths Lucy decided to get into the forest and practice all of the ninjutsu that she's learnt in the last six months. They were only simple and weren't anything above an A rank bur Lucy had been working creating one. When Lucy read about wind style ninjutsu she noticed that unless using a fan you couldn't create a massive amount of wind.

So Lucy decided to make one that was similar to Wendy's sky dragon roar. So far she could gather enough wind in her mouth to make one that wasn't even as big as her but it was a start. In fact, the first time she tried, there was saliva mixed in with the end result. Trying to gather wind was the difficult part though, not enough of it fit inside her mouth. Trying to imagine Wendy doing her dragons roar she tried to notice if anything was different. Other than the fact that she's not a dragon slayer and she can't consume air as Wendy can. Eyes widening in realisation and the fact that Wendy could essentially 'eat' the air she realised what she had to do, but it was going to be painful.

Lucy closed her eyes and took a deep breath and slowly let it out and then snapped her eyes open. Opening her mouth, she let chakra rise up into her throat before she starting suckling in big gusts or wind, combine it with her chakra as it went down her throat and into her lungs. The chakra helped to keep it stable and expand her lungs so that they wouldn't become injured. Still, suckling in air Lucy started to do multiple hand signs and finished by putting her hands up to her mouth in a tiger sign to keep the wind steady.

She finally opened her mouth and started blowing out all of the wind she had gathered. It swirled around like Scorpios 'sand buster' and cut down a few trees in front of her. Lucy started coughing from the strain it had on her lungs and decides to call it a day and come back to work on it tomorrow. Not noticing the gleaming eyes that followed her out of the forest.

 **At Axal-Sensei's house**

Lucy had just stepped into her room to find Axal-Sensei on her bedroom floor and seemed to be reading something on a piece of paper. Looking confused for a moment before realising that it was a letter that she had written to her mother about what had been happening, Lucy looked around to find that he had already read a few and she wondered how he got to them in the first place before noticing the broken FairyTail symbol on the floor.

Her eyes widened and she gasped. Hearing this Axal-Sensei looked up sharply and tried to look into Lucy's eyes but she just kept staring at the broken FairyTail symbol, her symbol of hope and light. The very reason why she trained every day, was broken on the floor. Lucy looked around and noticed that the box was in pieces, each constellation was lying out on the ground, some broken in halves or thirds.

Snapping her eyes to Axal-Sensei she glared at him and he flinched, having never seen her mad before. Frustrated maybe, but not mad. Lucy simply turned her head down so that her bangs covered her eyes and started walking towards where Axal-Sensei was sitting, he leaned back away from her when she reached her hand out but was confused when she grabbed the broken FairyTail symbol and held it close to her chest. Lucy then started silently picking up the broken pieces of the box while Axal-Sensei still sat silently wondering why she was picking up the box instead of yelling at him.

"You're mad at me right?" Asked Axal-Sensei as she started making her way out of the room once she picked up all of the broken boxes that she could find. "Why aren't you yelling at me or demanding an explanation?" He continued, Lucy paused at the doorway,

"It would be a waste of breath," she finally said she walked through the door.

"Wait, just tell me one thing, if you wrote all of these to your mother why haven't you sent them?"

"Because my mother is dead," Lucy spoke calmly as she slammed the door close.

Storming off into the direction of the forest with the broken box pieces Lucy wiped the tears from her eyes and she started running in a random direction. Finally, after so many months of trying to keep her mind off of things and trying to stay optimistic about her situation. Lucy is finally allowing herself to cry. Tripping over a tree root and falling face first into the dirt Lucy just laid there and cried. Clenching her fists around the soil, Lucy lifted her head up slightly to see the broken box that she had been holding scattered across the ground. A golden light came from the key pouch that she always kept on her and Loke appeared in front of her.

Loke kneeled down in front of her and picked her up by her armpits and placed her in his lap as he sat down on the forest floor. "It's going to be okay Lucy, Virgo and Capricorn can fix the box." He stated as he started cuddling her.

"It's not just the box Loke. I'm in a completely different world and I'm in a helpless body and I haven't found a way to get back yet." Lucy hiccupped throughout her explanation, "not to mention the fact that it's dangerous for you to even be in this world. I've read about the history of this place. If it gets out that I can summon you guys, who know what would happen." Lucy tried to calm herself through this explanation but as she continued, she realised how dangerous it was for her to be in this world.

What if someone could sense her magic power and thinks that there's something sealed within her. Lucy read about the Jinjuriki's and she was appalled to find out about the treatment they get. It reminded her of when Mira told her of how she joined fairytail. How awful that the village was to Mira even though she saved them. Loke wiped away the tears from Lucy's cheeks and held her close. He had no words to say because everything she said was true. Lucy had been communicating to Crux about everything she finds out about this world. Including ninjutsu and taijutsu. (Lucy doesn't know about genjutsu yet.) Crux then told the Celestial King and all of Lucy's spirits all of the important information, such as history or the map of the land.

Loke sighed, "look, Lucy, I know things seem bad right now and you feel alone, but you can always talk to us, your spirits. Even if you can't see us we will always be there. And you can't give up on finding a way back to Earth Land, I know you can do it. Because you are a fairytail wizard, it may take years but you'll see them again. And they're probably looking for you right now. Just imagine the looks on their faces when you show them ninjutsu." Lucy sniffed and looked up at Loke,

"I know, you're right. It's just that Fairytail was disbanded for nearly a year before the battle against Zeref and Acnologia. It felt like I was with them for five minutes before I got caught up in that portal."

"Just think about showing them how strong you've gotten since then. It'll give you something else to focus on at least." With that Loke gathered up the broken box pieces before going back to the celestial world. Lucy stood up and looked around and saw how dark it was, she climbed up the tree that she had tripped on before going settling onto a branch and going to sleep.

Waking up the next morning, Lucy looked around to only to realise that she was in the forest and she remembered what happened yesterday. looking down at her guild mark that now had dirt covering it she started to stand up on the branch that she had slept on and made her way down the tree trunk by concentrating her chakra into her feet.

Lucy started walking slowly back towards the town, wondering if maybe she overreacted about last night's incident. Everything just came pouring out of her last night, she barely managed to get her to break down under control. If Loke wasn't there she'd probably still be crying her heart out. Lucy sighed and tried to come up with a way to explain everything to Axal-Sensei but then her stomach rumbled. Looking down at her stomach Lucy started running out of the forest and towards the town just as the sun started to rise. Food first, explanation later.

Walking into the workshop after cooking up some fish to eat Lucy nervously shifted as she walked through the shop and into the neck where the kitchen was hoping to sneak back into her room and shower first. Only to see Axal-sensei sitting at the dining room table with his head in his hands. Lucy tried to sneak by him but the floor creaked slightly under her weight and his head shot up to look at her.

His eyes widened at the sight. Her eyes were slightly red and puffy from crying the night before and she was covered in dirt from tripping over. Lucy's clothes were also ripped in various places from climbing the tree in a hurry. Lucy gulped as he stood up and made his way over to her.

He bonked her on the head. "Ouch, what was that for?" she exclaimed.

"What were you thinking, running off?" he shouted at her and Lucy suddenly got angry again,

"What did you think I was going to do?" she yelled back at him rubbing her head before looking up at him. Lucy just then noticed the dark circles under his eyes and unkempt hair. She puffed up her cheeks and looked away from him. Once again Axal-sensei was reminded that she was a little girl and that children tend to do irrational things when emotional. He sighed before kneeling down to her height so that he could look her in the eyes.

"Look, kid, I'm sorry about the letters I shouldn't have gone through your things, but I know nothing about you. Where you're from or even your last name." Axal-sensei said trying not to look embarrassed, he has never apologised to a child before. Lucy looked up at him with a thoughtful look on her face,

"I wasn't mad about the letters you can read them all if you want." Axal-sensei looked confused "I was mad because you broke my box, you could have just asked me to open it, you know." Lucy stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world while putting her tiny hands on her hips. Axal-sensei sweat dropped and the sight and started to laugh nervously.

"Why is that box so important to you? And why couldn't I open it?" he asked in a cautious manner hoping that she wasn't mad anymore.

"Because it symbolises everything I fight for, it was given to me by those most precious to me and it reminds me of others who are equally important," Lucy explained putting her right hand over her heart. Axal-sensei had just noticed the Fairytail symbol that resided there and wondered why he never saw it before. But before he could ask, Lucy said that she was going to go have a shower and then do some more research on seals.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy had been researching seals whenever she was not training or working in the workshop. Lucy thought that she was now ready to perform her first seal. It was just an exploding tag seal, but it was always best to start small and then climb your way up. Especially when your sensei isn't very good at them himself, Lucy has seen him accidentally set one off before, she thought it would be best if she tried to learn from books rather than her sensei on this one.

Luce wrote the signs on a piece of chakra paper that she had purchased earlier that day and tied it to a kunai. Performing the correct hand signs before throwing the kunai at a tree then performing the correct hand sign to release the chakra stored inside, nothing happened, Lucy sighed in disappointment. She had initially thought that this would be easier than everything that she has done so far because she's a holder type mage. She must not be releasing the chakra in the tag right, Lucy couldn't think of any other way she could have messed up.

Axal-Sensei said that chakra control was vital in performing seals and that it should be easy for her because she caught on to that so quick. Lucy huffed and grabbed another piece of chakra paper and performed the steps again, only to have the same thing happen. Lucy tried countless times throughout the day and the most she got was a little singe on one of the corners. Realising that she wouldn't get anywhere until she did more research Lucy went back to ninjutsu training.

Lucy finally figured out what her problem was with the seals, her chakra control isn't as good as Axal-Sensei first thought, Lucy still wasn't used to using the only chakra. Bits and pieces of ethernano were still getting into her use of seals and ninjutsu, that's probably why her Wind style technique, the one that she had based off of Wendy's dragon roar, that she has now named, Wind Style: Eternal Vortex, was more powerful than any other jutsu that Lucy used. The others weren't designed to use ethernano, only chakra, but with this technique that she created, she needed the ethernano to help expand her lungs.

Lucy had been accidentally releasing small amounts of ethernano each time she used her chakra, once she understood this she asked Capricorn through his key if he had any magic limiters that she had seen Erza train with. Doing this Lucy should be able to use fuinjutsu, (sealing techniques) she can work on separating her magic and chakra while she practices her taijutsu training.

Currently, Lucy was working in the workshop making weapons to be put out sale, now that Lucy thought about it she has never seen anyone in the store, nor has she ever seen anything gets bought. Lucy wondered why Axal-Sensei needed her to make these weapons, he had given her a list of measurements to stick too. The kunai knives were the size of a man in his mid-twenties or a woman in her early thirties.

Frowning Lucy wondered who they were for but she didn't want to be nosy, after the last encounter that they had about their personal life she didn't want anything to mess up the mutual agreement they both seemed to have. Things were already tense enough as they were, even though they resolved the issue Lucy could tell that he still wanted to know more about her past.

It's not like she was lying to him or anything but she couldn't exactly tell him that she had just come out of nowhere from another world, she literally fell from the sky. Sighing at the thought as she finished up the last kunai knife and put it on the cooling rack ready to be placed in a pouch for the customers.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy has been training a lot with her chakra control since she finished making the weapons for Axal-Sensei, Lucy even tried adding chakra to her whip and a couple other weapons but so far, the effect of them hasn't really changed, except for her halberd. Adding chakra to that makes her hits stronger and more precise while adding a thin layer of protection. She didn't know if it would protect the weapon against ninjutsu but she could now hit the ground with it and it would make a small crack. Lucy was working towards being able to split the ground, like when the Celestial King crashes his sword into the ground on Earth Land. It wouldn't be as large of course.

Lucy's speed has also improved immensely, over the course of six months Lucy can now run faster and longer than what she ever has been able before. Axal-sensei has a hard time blocking her attacks when they train now, her strength is still questionable, her punches and kicks still don't seem to have much of an effect, even if she increases her weights often.

Lucy sighed as she stopped training with her halberd and sat on the ground to think for a moment. Her halberd was highly effective when she fought against Axal-sensei when she added her chakra to it she managed to know him off his feet. Something she had never done before, Lucy wondered if she could do the same thing with her taijutsu, use chakra as a temporary boost of strength. Even if just to land a couple bruises.

 **Time Skip**

Later that day Lucy had finally gotten the hang of adding chakra to her punches, it improved her strength significantly but not as much as she was hoping for. Anyway, Lucy had stayed outside in the training field because Axal-Sensei said that he had a new task for her in her training.

"Lucy, you've improved a lot over the last six months that you've been my apprentice and student, more than I've ever seen in anyone quite so young. I think that you can do this." Axal-sensei stated as he took out a black scarf. Lucy looked at him confused but then he motioned for her to turn around. "This will be the start of your sensory training. You will never be allowed to take this scarf off except for in the bathroom or reading a book and I will only allow one hour of reading time a day. Keep in mind that rule may change. You will need to figure out a way to sense the things around you and incoming attacks." Axal-Sensei explained to Lucy as he tied the scarf around her head so that she couldn't see anything. Lucy stuttered at the thought of never taking off the scarf and was about to ask a question before Axal-sensei continued.

"You will continue to do your daily routine just the same as any other day," he said finishing his explanation, Lucy was a little overwhelmed at this sudden task. Axal-sensei had never mentioned sensory techniques in the past nor has she come across any in the library.

"How am I supposed to do this exactly?" Lucy complained to her teacher that seemed to be out to get her with all of these tasks.

"That's up to you to figure it out, every sensory type ninja is different and has different ways of doing this, some even have a kekkei Genkai to be able to do this. You will have to figure out a way as well." as he stated that Lucy could hear him walking away and she heard the door shut. She sighed and carefully sat on the ground trying to figure out how to do this task.

Lucy had nothing that she could do to achieve this if she was a dragon slayer her senses would have been heightened enough for her to use them and she didn't have a spirit that specialised on this kind of thing. Lucy was officially stuck.

Back inside the workshop, Axal was internally laughing at his superb student's misfortune. Everything else that he has given her to work on she had exceeded his expectations, but he hoped that this task would take her at least a month to complete. He would find something that she couldn't do no matter how hard she tried, he thought he had finally found it with the seals she was working on but then she figured that out as well. Lucy may still be a beginner in a lot of things but Axal knew that Lucy would become a master in everything that she has achieved so far. ' _She's not someone that would do something halfway'._ Axal smiled slightly at that thought, ' _that kid has definitely made me soft'._


	4. Chapter 4

It's been four months since Lucy got given the sensory task and Lucy figured out a way to increase her senses within the first month. During that month Lucy's training had slowed right down, she had to wake up a couple hours earlier each day just to be able to complete her tasks before Axal-Sensei woke up. Not to mention how much clumsier she got always bumping into things, and as she memorised where everything was Axal-sensei would move it. He kept saying it was to keep her on her toes but Lucy thinks he was just doing it to make fun of her.

After the first month, Axal-sensei would randomly throw kunai and shuriken knives at Lucy and she would have to either dodge them or catch them and throw them back at him. Lucy did everything with her blindfold on, using her senses was like second nature to her now but she couldn't detect things long distance. Only a couple feet away, maybe from one side of the training field to the other. Lucy still kept on the blindfold during the day and while training, to keep her skills sharp. Once Lucy had figured out how to sharpen her senses Axal-sensei got a depressing aura around him and had moped for a couple of days, grumbling about overachievers, Lucy sweat dropped at him and tried to cheer him up by explaining how hard she finds taijutsu. Lucy has always been more of a long ranged fighter and still finds a hand to hand combat difficult, the only reason she can land so many hits on Axal-sensei is that of her speed and she knows his fighting style so well.

Lucy had been studying seals a lot more lately as well, she has figured out a way to seal her gate keys into her guild mark and to get Virgo to take things back into the spirit world without her being called out of her key. The only problem is that she has to release them from the seal all at once so she still carries around her key pouch. Lucy hasn't figured out a way to summon her spirits secretly either, she read about summoning animals and how some people could only summon one or two different types, but she has so many summonses it'll be suspicious if she suddenly called them out and they were all human looking or looked like mythical creatures, as far as Lucy read the only star dress that she might be able to get away with was her cancer form. Lucy sighed, she missed fighting alongside her spirits, that's what she missed most about Earth Land, fighting alongside someone, whether it be spirit or guild member.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy finally got away and into a discrete part of the forest so that she could practice her magic. For the past ten months, Lucy has missed the feeling of actively using it. It was a big risk attempting now but Lucy couldn't wait, she was just going to exhaust some of it rest for a while and then go back. Lucy star dressed in her Aquarius form and started to perform her most powerful spell. The spell of the stars.

Once Lucy completed the spell, she collapsed onto the forest floor and tried to look around her. In a perfect circle, the trees around her have shredded apart and knocked down, smiling in a bit of relief Lucy undid her star dress and took a deep breath. Despite the fact that she was exhausted she felt like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders at her use of magic.

Lucy was taken back into a memory of when she first joined the guild, ' _It should take over your being and come pouring out of your soul'_ Lucy smiled at the thought of one of Gramps speeches. He really could talk his way out of anything, closing her eyes she took another deep breath and felt the cool air fill her lungs before she expelled it from her body.

Her eyes snapped open as she heard a twig crack from behind the tree line. Lucy tried to get up into an offensive position but she was too weak from doing that spell. Lucy heard laughing from within the trees, "to think such power came from a little girl," Lucy heard the voice echo around her, she couldn't tell where it came from.

Lucy started to panic, her breathing became uneven and she could feel her heart beating in her chest. ' _This aura, I haven't felt anything like it since the fight with Master Hades, when he used his Devil's Eye, it's pure evil'._ Lucy thought to herself, she tried to roll over in order to crawl away. If she could just get closer to the town, Axal-sensei might be able to hear her. As Lucy just started to crawl away something slimy wrapped around her ankles. Panicked she looked down only to see a tongue wrapped around her, Lucy followed the tongue back to its owner and saw something that reminded her of the Nine Demons of Tartoros, they had the same feeling about them. They didn't feel human and yet they were still breathing.

Lucy froze in fear, never had she felt such maliciousness not even from Zeref. ' _This guy's messed up_ ', Lucy thought, ' _Natsu',_ Lucy shut her eyes at this thought, she was shaking, terrified. Lucy heard someone shout her name and she snapped her eyes open. Running towards her was Axal-Sensei, once he was in front of her he looked at what had captured her and tensed.

"Orochimaru, rogue ninja of the leaf," Axal stated as he stared at the person like thing in front of him and his student. "What are you doing to my student?" he asked, Lucy was still frozen in fear.

"This student of yours is quite the find, such power in such a small body," was what this Orochimaru guy slurred before he tried to reel Lucy in by his tongue like a fish on a hook. Lucy was shaken out of her shock and she started to struggle as much as she could in her exhausted state.

"Let her go," Axal-sensei shouted before taking out a katana and slicing off Orochimaru's tongue. Lucy heard a shriek as she scrambled back behind her sensei.

"You'll regret that," Orochimaru hissed as he suddenly shot out from the trees shadows and attacked Axal. Using his now slightly shorter tongue to wrap around Axal's middle only to have Axal cut it off again.

"Lucy, you have to run, try and get away," Axal yelled as he continued to try and cut off the Orochimaru's tongue. Lucy tried to stand up only to fall over again from exhaustion, she then tried crawling away into the tree lone to try and hide but before she could Orochimaru sunk into the ground and rose up in front of Lucy. He grabbed her by her hair and yanked her up, Lucy cried out in pain before Orochimaru turned her around to face Axal-sensei.

Lucy could see that he was trying to get to her, "sensei," Lucy whispered before Orochimaru yanked her hair again. He laughed as she cried out and whispered in her ear.

"Now I'm going to kill your precious sensei for cutting off my tongue, and you're going to watch every second of it." Lucy's eyes widened and she tried to get out of his grasp, struggled as Orochimaru opened up his mouth and had a sword come flying out of it. Lucy couldn't hear anything after that, she watched as tears were rolling down her face, and continued to watch as Axal-sensei had blood coming out of his mouth.

She didn't hear herself scream or cry out in anguish. She didn't feel herself be dropped onto the ground, all she felt was the pain of seeing her sensei, the one that took her in and taught her to be stronger, die. Right in front of her. ' _All of that training, all of that hard work and I couldn't do anything. Was it really all for this?'_ Was all Lucy thought, before all she saw was darkness.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy knew that it had been almost one year since she had been captured mostly because Horologium would tell her when it was a new day and because of the frequency of the experimenters that came down to drag her by her chains to the medic's room, or 'torture room.' During these sessions with the experimenters, they would inject a vile of blue liquid into her to increase her stress levels and a purple liquid to increase her healing rate.

Whenever Orochimaru graced her with his presence he kept going on about some locked potential and that something was sealed inside of her. But Lucy knew exactly what it was, it was her magic. She should have been more careful with her magic because when she was practising the Urano Metria spell, Orochimaru had the felt her magic spike and because that spell takes up all of her magic power she was too exhausted to fight back. That's how she got taken and how Axal-Sensei died.

When her stress levels are raised they start the physical torture, her body was now had multiple scars. Orochimaru tried not to scar her body too badly, something about a vessel was always included in that rant and something about marking her as well. Lucy always tried to listen to what he was saying but she always passed out before he finished. Because of all of the experiments that are being done on her, her magic always reacts badly to it, trying to fight whatever it was that was entering her body, Lucy always held back her magic from spiraling out of control, getting some sort of satisfaction from seeing Orochimaru so frustrated by not being able to break her.

Orochimaru has also tried mental torture but for some reason, genjustu doesn't seem to work on Lucy. Her vision would become hazy for a moment and that's how she knew that someone was trying to cast one on her but other than that it had no effect.

Horologium said that he would try and protect her as much as he could from inside his key so maybe that has something to do with it. Lucy wasn't giving up though, she had a plan to escape she just needed to wait a little longer. Lucy had been meditating, gathering chakra and ethernano alike and sealing it away into her Aquarius tattoo, she had already sealed her keys into her guild mark before she got taken so she doesn't have to worry about them.

The chakra draining restraints were effective but they could do little about sealed chakra and even less about her magic, it just took more time to be able to gather enough of it. Even chakra restraints have their limits, Lucy needed both chakra and her magic if she wanted to get out of here though, as much as she loved her spirits she knew they wouldn't be enough to help her get out of the base. She needed to think about her energy levels as well, it would be useless if she had to fight but didn't have enough energy to run by the end of it.

Hearing footsteps coming closer Lucy could tell that it was a different person because of how light the steps were, it was almost as if they didn't want to be caught. Lucy had memorised just enough about the base to get her out of it, despite the fact that they kept her blindfolded except for when Orochimaru was in the same room as her. Lucky for her, Axal-sensei made her keep a blindfold on herself for four months straight to work on her sensory training. It made it easier for her to remember her way around.

The footsteps were right beside the metal door that kept her caged, Lucy wondered if it was someone new that they have recruited because Lucy had at least another couple of hours before someone came for another session. That eight hours would give her enough time to heal all of the minor wounds and to gain back her surroundings. The door slowly opened and she heard someone stifle a gasp, she frowned from beneath her blindfold and clenched her fists slightly as the feet began to make their way towards her, much faster than when they were sneaking outside the door.

"Don't worry I'll get you out of here," the voice said in a hushed tone and she could tell that they were female by how soft it was, they began to work on breaking the chains because they didn't have a key,

"Anko, have you found anything?" a hushed slightly deeper voice called from the hallway and Lucy guessed that he was male because he asked from outside the room, Lucy was guessing he was keeping a lookout,

"Yamato, I found a girl in here, come and unlock her chains," said the woman who Lucy now knew to be Anko. Lucy heard another set of footsteps and assumed it to be the man called Yamato. He was now close enough that Lucy could hear his breathing, she remained silent throughout all of this. The man somehow unlocked her chains and the woman took off her blindfold.

Lucy opened her eyes only to see shadows in front of her and concluded that it was in fact late at night. The chains around Lucy's feet were now taken off as well but Lucy still felt too weak to walk, the man picked her up bridal style and started making his way towards the hall where Lucy could see the shadow of the woman disappear. Lucy slouched back into the man's chest and fell unconscious from the newly found chakra that was making its way into her system as well as the pain from the last concoction that was flowing inside her bloodstream. Yamato and Anko both turned to look at Lucy as she fell unconscious and then started lightly jogging towards a random direction. Their mission was to gather information on what Orochimaru was doing in this hideout as well as where any other might be. They hoped that carrying Lucy around didn't hinder their mission in any way. They didn't expect to find anyone there, apparently rumours suggested that Orochimaru rotated where he resided and that this one had been empty for almost a week. Since they found her here they hoped the didn't run into any more trouble.

Anko and Yamato had tried and failed to find any important information about Orochimaru and had only found a couple of scrolls with jutsus and seals that they already knew about. They took them anyway, as per orders and were now trying to find the exit. Lucy was still unconscious in Yamato's arms and it didn't look like she was waking up anytime soon. They ran all over the place but it looked like the base had been wiped clean like they expected them to come. They even passed one room that looked like an infirmary but it had nothing in it but a chair that looked like someone could be strapped into it.

They shuddered to think what they could have been doing to the girl that they were holding. Every once and a while they heard her groan, usually if they were jumping over something. Eventually, they managed to open a room that looks like it was an old office, it was empty except for the desk. After searching through it and again finding nothing they went looking for a secret entrance of some kind. Maybe there was some leftover information in there.

"Yamato takes a look at this," Anko stated as she looked over at the ground in the right-hand corner.

"What is it?" responded Yamato curiously as he started to walk towards her.

"This corner is cleaner than the rest of the room," Anko stated suspicious,

"So?"

"Something was here before and from the looks of it, it was only removed recently,"

"So someone was in a hurry but if that was the case why leave the girl?"

"You think she could be a trap?"

"Or maybe they're coming back for her, either way, it's not good we need to leave immediately. The Hokage can decide what to do with the girl once we get back," after Yamato said this they started to make their way out of the hidden base. Once they made their way out of the base and into the forest outside they heard laughing from up in the trees. Looking up they saw what looked to be more than twenty shinobi, some of them looked very disfigured.

"Be careful Anko, there could be more," stated Yamato as he made a wood clone of himself to guard Lucy.

"Right," Anko replied as she positioned herself in a fighting stance.

One by one the enemy jumped done from the trees and attacked the two leaf ninja. All the while trying to avoid hitting Lucy with their larger attacks.

"You work for Orochimaru, where is he hiding?" Anko shouted at them she avoided their attacks and even threw out her own,

"And what does he want with the girl, is she working with him as well?" Yamato added to the one-sided conversation, the men just laughed and continued their onslaught.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy groaned as she started to wake up on to open her eyes to see two people surrounding her. They had their backs to her and were breathing heavily, now that the chakra repressing chains are no longer on her, she could sense that they were low on chakra.

Lucy slowly got to her feet and tried to regain her balance. One of them turned to look at her, the man had brown hair and looked somewhat familiar. "Kid you really should be resting, we'll handle this." as he said this the woman turned slightly to look at her, Lucy looked past them and realised what he meant. They were surrounded, Lucy recognised some of them as her torturers and some of the others as former jail mates.

So they started to work for Orochimaru, Lucy thought with a frown on her face. She turned to look at the man that had spoken to her and she smiled, he looked at her shocked, "You guys look exhausted, why don't you rest for a while?" Lucy suggested to him already coming up with a plan to take out as many as possible. Her chakra still hadn't fully stabilised but she did have that particular trick up her sleeve. The man and woman that surrounded her looked both shocked and in doubt that she could actually take on that many on her own. So did their enemies as they could hear them laughing.

Lucy focused her chakra into her nose and ears, then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She snapped her eyes open and started performing hand signs, "wind style: eternal vortex jutsu," Lucy yelled out before performing the jutsu and pushing all of the enemies in her front back to give her some time to eliminate the ones behind her. Lucy smirked before turning around to face her enemies but not before saying.

"I'm all fired up now!"

Lucy had asked Virgo silently through her guild mark to give her, her whip and halberd. When they appeared Lucy could tell that the man and woman behind were shocked, to them it looked like it came out of nowhere, like Requip magic or a summoning jutsu. It stunned them, even more, to learn that Lucy's whip is extendable, she had managed to wrap a bunch of the enemy together and then knock them out with a lightning style jutsu. Now there were only half as many as when Lucy woke up, that she could sense anyway.

"Wind style, air bullet jutsu," Lucy shouted as she sucks in a small amount of air and aimed it at some of the enemies in the trees. They jumped out to avoid being hit and Lucy used her speed to get behind one and knock him out before he landed.

"Water style: water shark jutsu," Lucy heard someone shout from above her and suddenly she was thrown back into a tree. Lucy cried out as her back got slammed into it and crouched down to avoid the knife that was just thrown at her stomach. Taking a deep breath Lucy looked around her and noticed that her opponents were closing in, she knew that if she didn't do something soon they would capture her and take her back to Orochimaru.

Lucy didn't want to use her last resort just yet, the people that broke her out of her chains didn't seem to be in any immediate danger and if she got caught again she would need it, desperately. Lucy closed her eyes in thought while still keeping her senses sharp just in case of any incoming attacks.

None of the enemies seems to be above a Chunin rank, meaning that if Orochimaru had planned this ambush he either wants us to escape or he has a backup somewhere nearby. Lucy thought to herself as she dodged another kunai and punched another opponent. What is he playing at? Orochimaru doesn't make careless mistakes, he knew that leaving me at the hideout would slow down the village ninja.

Lucy tripped over another shinobi with her Halberd and quickly twirled the staff in her hand so that she could jam the end of the staff into their stomach and push them into five of their own comrades and knock them over. Essentially knocking at least half of them out as they slammed into trees.

Lucy was breathing deeply and she started to feel the effects of chakra loss getting to her. If only she could use her magic, this would be so much simpler but then Orochimaru would never give up his fixation with her and her spirits could be in danger. Lucy wondered if she could pass off Taurus and Capricorn as summoning animals but then she sweats dropped at the thought of them walking on all fours, one in a tux while reciting poetry and the other with an axe in his mouth and hearts in his eyes. Lucy dismissed the idea but wondered if she could star dress into Cancers form, without anyone asking too many questions, they already thought she could make weapons appear out of thin air. Why not clothes, this could then lead to her using all of her star dress forms, eventually.

Making a decision Lucy changed into her Cancer form and two swords that looked like scissor blades appeared into her hands, her outfit changed to make it easier to move around in and her hair was out of the way. Using the speed that came with the star dress Lucy cut down the remaining opponents that were on the ground, stopping in front of the village ninja that were staring in shock at her transformation.

Lucy quickly turned back around and looked around her at the remaining enemies. Her breathing was uneven and she knew that she needed to finish this quickly, she could use that jutsu. Lucy wondered if she should use the Urano Metria spell but it was what got her into this mess in the first place, besides it might be what Orochimaru is really hoping for. She's revealed too much of her magic already; way more than what Axal-Sensei ever knew.

Lucy shut her eyes tightly at the thought of him, how useless she was that day. She tried so hard not to think about it while she was chained up when you're alone with your thoughts you tend to only think of the bad things. Lucy knew that if she did that she wouldn't have been able to think of a way to escape. She could always cry later.

Lucy snapped her eyes open and blocked several kunai with her blades, she furrowed her brows in thought, what could she do to end things quickly. Lucy snapped her eyes over to where she got hit with that water jutsu and saw the remaining water that resided there and got an idea. Lucy looked towards her opponents that were within the trees and tried to remember which ones were short ranged and which were long ranged. Lucy threw one of her blades into the trees and heard several branches being cut off and the ninja moved away, grabbing her fleuve d'étoiles and trying to hit some of the enemies but they just moved again.

"Lightning style: lightning beast jutsu," Lucy shouted as she created the hand signs and aimed it at the group across from her. It hit the tree behind them, they all started laughing,

"You missed us blonde," one sneered at her and he was about to take a step towards her,

"Who said I was aiming for you?" Lucy mumbled as she fell over, she looked over towards her opponents and saw that her jutsu had finally taken effect. The static from the lightning travelled through the moisture that was left behind from the attack earlier and electrocuted them just enough for them to be knocked out. Lucy smiled as she passed out from chakra loss, having needed to add enough to make the jutsu more powerful.

Anko and Yamato looked at all of the damage that she caused and all of the opponents that she had taken on her own. "What is she?" Yamato whispered as he bent down to pick her up and Anko went to pick up her blades before heading off in the direction of Konoha.


	5. Chapter 5

Lucy woke up to find herself in a hospital bed, Lucy looked around trying to get a sense of where she was or at least how long she had been there. Lucy looked out of the window and saw a village down below, it looked so lively. It looked to be around the middle of the day, people were standing around stalls and eating. Lucy turned around when heard the door open and saw a nurse come through the door, the nurse looked surprised to see her looking at her.

"So you're awake dear, that's good. We were expecting you to be out for at least another week or so." The nurse had a soft, soothing voice, she was probably a new resident and wanted to make a good impression. "Are you hungry? I can bring you some soup but no heavy stuff until your stomach gets stronger, you are malnourished." Her voice turned stern at the least part of her explanation, you could tell from her body language and facial expressions that this line of work is what she wanted to do. Instead of being pushed into it or had no other choice.

"Yeah, soup sounds great," Lucy said with a small smile on her face, she hasn't had a decent meal in almost a year. Lucy let her smile drop after the nurse left and turned her gaze towards the window, silently asking Horologium for the date.

"It's July 7th miss Lucy," Came the hesitant the reply through her head. July 7th huh? Wonder if this time it'll be a good day or just as disappointing as the previous years. Lucy sighed at the thought of today, bad things tend to happen on the 7th of the 7th. Lucy hoped that because she's nowhere near Orochimaru that it was a good thing, but she had no idea where she was or who brought her here.

She knew that it was one woman and one man and that they were both ninjas from the forehead protectors that they wore but she had no idea who they were as people. Were they good people? Bad people? Somewhere in between? Would they treat her as an enemy, despite what happened back at the base? Lucy was going through all of the possibilities in her head but until she knew where she was she couldn't plan an escape if she needed one.

She's guessing that the odds aren't going to be in her favour because she's been handcuffed to the hospital bed. At least they're not chakra repressing cuffs so if she needs to make a quick getaway she could break them. This is an obvious way of saying that she's not in for a very warm welcome and that they don't trust her. Lucy took a deep breath and decided to use everything that her father taught her about politics, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and crossing her ankles over one another and then placing her hands as comfortably as possible with her left handcuffed, folded on top of her lap. Lucy then put her practised 'business' smile on her face and tilted her head slightly to the left as to appear innocent even though she knew that they would know exactly what she was doing.

Lucy heard someone opening the door again and saw the nurse walk in with a tray, she walked in and set the food beside her bed and when she turned to look at Lucy she looked at her slightly surprised but Lucy didn't know if it was because of her changed demeanour or if it was because she didn't expect her to be sitting at the edge of her bed seemingly waiting for her to come back. Lucy ate like she used to back in the estate, small bites with grace and little to no noise.

Lucy hated acting this way but she knew that if she didn't prepare she would slip up and reveal something that she shouldn't. She misses the guild, a place where she can act however she wants and just be herself, however, Lucy knows that ninja based villages such as this one could legally obtain information in any way that they choose. They had a TI unit in most villages and if there was one where she wanted to play her cards right. Only speaking when spoken to, ask only questions that include herself and only answer questions if they are as brisk as possible or when she can provide one in return.

Back on Earth Land, it was even illegal for the magic council to torture information out of people, depending on their crimes. She knew they still did it but at least it was considered illegal. If every village had their own set of laws, then there was no telling what they could do. Once Lucy had finished her soup she set it to the side and the door once again opened. In walked an old man wearing a set of robes and a large hat that had the kanji for Kage on it. Because of his timing, she was guessing that he had been watching her from the moment she woke up and was glad that she spoke with Horologium quietly.

Lucy once again tiled her head to the side slightly and smiled with her eyes closed. "Good day child, I hope you are feeling well," the old man said in a warm voice and Lucy opened her eyes once again to find that he meant what he said. His aged eyes were warm and full of compassion; the type of compassion she usually saw in Master Makarovs eyes with the same age lines that came with experience.

"Yes sir, your hospitality has been most appreciated," Lucy said and she mostly meant it but she subtly moved her left hand to make the cuff jingle slightly. The man's eyes suddenly grew stern as he realised what she meant. I don't trust you either.

The room was tense as the Kage of the village and Lucy sat in silence, mostly because the old man didn't know how to communicate with an eight-year-old girl that was being very subtle about her distrust and dislike of being handcuffed. Not even adults knew how to express themselves in such a manner and the only reason he could pick up on it was that he was the Kage and had to practice such things himself. So how was it that a little girl could do so seemingly effortless.

Lucy was still smiling at the old man, waiting for him to speak. No matter how hard it was for her to keep her mouth shut, all she wanted to do now was yell about how much she wanted to get out of this bed and drink a strawberry smoothie but she needed to know what it is exactly the man wanted to know.

The Kage cleared his throat, "My name is Hiruzen Sarutobi, the third and current Hokage, may I inquire as to what your name may be, child?" he said,

"My name is Lucy, for the past year or so I was known as number 142," Lucy simply stated reminding both the Hokage and herself of why she was here, the Hokage sighed slightly and got to the point.

"Would you mind telling me why you were in Orochimaru's base?"

"Actually I would but I wouldn't mind telling you if you also tell me why your ninja was there as well," Lucy said not willing to give information so easily the Hokage wondered what he could tell her exactly and decided to keep it short and straight to the point.

"They were gathering information," was all he said,

"I was captured," was Lucy's reply,

"I see," the Hokage was struggling to find a way to keep this girl talking, being warm didn't work and answering her questions didn't work either. They had no idea who this girl was or what she was capable of and they needed answers. Perhaps he should send in Yamato and Anko to talk to her, they did get her out of Orochimaru's clutches after all. How didn't want to send such a small girl to TI if he didn't have to, it already took too long convincing the council members to only keep one of her hands cuffed. "My dear, I'm afraid I'm going to need more than that."

Lucy tilted her head innocently, "what do you mean sir?"

"Why did you get captured? What happened to you while you were there and what are your intentions while you're here in my village?" the old man stated and Lucy could tell that he was beginning to grow impatient but suddenly she didn't care. Lucy grew angry, what are her intentions in the village? They were the ones that brought her here in the first place and they have her strapped down no less.

"I don't like what you're implying Lord Hokage," Lucy said as she suddenly glared up at the old man, screw politics I'm going to give this geezer a piece of my mind, Lucy thought to herself. "How am I supposed to know what goes through that psycho's mind, do you really think you have the right to know everything that happened to me while I was captured you have me strapped down and I don't even know where this village is let alone what I'm doing here so I think you better start talking if you want anything out of me," Lucy shouted at him and he looked at her shocked at her sudden change in behaviour.

Lucy started tugging at the cuff frustrated, "I've had enough of these things to last a lifetime, get it off of me," Lucy yelled and tugged harder, she puffed out her cheeks and squinted her eyes intently at the handcuff, like if she glared at it, it would suddenly let her go. Lucy only stopped when she heard a throaty chuckle coming from the old man beside her bed.

"Why don't we go talk in my office," he said and walked over and undid the cuffs and started making his way out of the room, there are a set of clothes on the chair I'll wait for you to change," once the door closed Lucy grabbed the clothes and hastily put them on.

When Lucy opened the door she saw a man with a rabbit mask on his face beside it and the Hokage standing on the opposite side of the hallway. Lucy frowned and the masked man and started making her way to the Hokage. All the while feeling the masked man's eyes on her, she turned to look at him as they were leaving and she stuck her tongue out at him and jogged to catch up to the Hokage. Not noticing that the Hokage saw what she just did and was holding back a chuckle.

Once they had made it outside Lucy stopped and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath in and she could taste the fresh air, she could feel the heat of the sun on her skin, she could feel the breeze ruffling her hair. Something she hasn't felt in almost a year, the Hokage had stopped once he realised she wasn't following him and looked at her. He was shocked to find a tear escape her eye and he let her be for a moment. Lucy took another deep breath in before she opened her eyes again to follow the Hokage only to have him looking at her.

Lucy cleared her throat, "sorry it just feels like it's been a while since I've had fresh air," Lucy smiled at him, a real smile. A smile that reached her eyes and made them sparkle with something the Hokage hasn't seen in a long time. Hope. It wasn't common to find something like this in ninja and even less in people who have had a tough childhood, but for some reason, this girl looked like she had it in spades.

Hiruzen turned and started walking back to his office with the girl trailing behind him in thought. Lucy was humming as she followed him and tried to take in as much of the town ad she could and paused slightly when she walked passed the bookstore but shook her head and continued to follow the Hokage.

Lucy was sitting in front of the Hokage as he sat in his chair and his desk that was stacked with piles of papers, he had a pipe in his mouth and several Jonin ranked ninjas in the room, Lucy could also tell that there were a few other ninjas guarding the room. She sweatdropped at the look some of them were giving her it was like she had stolen Happy's fish or something. The Hokage was looking at her amused and decided to stay silent, wondering who would break first. One of his ninja or the girl, he didn't have to wait very long because one of his ninjas slammed his hand onto the Hokage's desk.

"Listen you damn brat, you're going to answer all of my questions without complaint you hear," said a ninja with a bandana on and bandages covering half of his face, Lucy slightly jumped at the noise and turned her head slightly to face him.

"I thought Lord Hokage was going to ask me questions?" Lucy questioned said ninja and squinted her eyes slightly, "why else would I be sitting in his office?" Lucy tilted her head 'innocently' at this question and saw that it frustrated the man even further, not to mention make the Hokage and some of the other ninja cover up a smile.

"I am Ibiki the head of the T and I unit, do you know what that means brat?"

"Yes, but once again I am in the Hokage office not TI," Once Lucy said this the man walked around the desk, the only female Jonin behind him was going to stop him but the Hokage put his hand up in front of her and let Ibiki continue.

Ibiki bent over and put his face next to hers, "perhaps we are but one word out of the Hokage mouth and I can drag you down there do you understand me?"

Lucy narrowed her eyes in confusion, "why are you telling me this, do you have such little faith that the Hokage can question me himself?" Lucy shot back at him and the Hokage couldn't hold it in any longer, he started chuckling once again being amused by this girl who seemed to have the courage to stand up to Ibiki. Ibiki had turned red though, looking back at the Hokage in an almost pleading look to let him question her, the brat needed to be put in her place.

Once she saw that the interrogator had no intention of moving out of her face she got up and started making her way to the Hokage desk to stand in front of it when she suddenly felt a hand on her should. On reflex she grabbed the person's wrist and flipped the person over her should so that he would land on his back with force. Lucy looked shocked at her own actions, as did everyone else. She let go of Ibiki who was lying on the ground still and nervously rubbed the back of her head laughing, "whoops," she said and she heard a snort coming from the left-hand corner near the window. A Jonin ranked ninja wearing a mask that covered up and the majority of his face with his forehead protector covering one of his eyes was where the noise came from. He was holding an orange book with a red X on the back and had a lazy persona about him but if you looked closely you could see his shoulders slightly tense as Lucy looked at him. She turned back towards the Hokage who was looking at his head interrogator who was still on the floor.

"In my defence Lord third he touched me first," she tried to persuade him, he held up a hand to stop her from speaking,

"You just flipped my head interrogator over your shoulder and we both know you were purposely annoying him," he stated as he looked at her with a raised eyebrow, Lucy then smiled at him,

"Who me?" She said cheekily and once again Lucy heard another snort come from the lazy man, she decided to ignore it this time. The Hokage sighed,

"Someone should probably take Ibiki out of the room before he kills the poor girl," the female Jonin said with a worried look on her face. Just then Lucy felt a murderous aura behind her and turned to look at Ibiki who was now staring at her with killing intent. Lucy smiled at him as the Hokage ordered someone to lead him out of the room.

"Bye, bye mister interrogator," Lucy exclaimed loudly, waving at him and it looked like Ibiki was about to take a step back into them before the door closed in his face. The Hokage sighed at the girl's childish actions,

"She's not going to make this easy for us is she?" The black haired, female Jonin asked as she ate a stick of dango.

"I think she's still mad from being cuffed to the hospital bed," Lord Hokage exclaimed blowing smoke out of his mouth. Lucy puffed up her cheeks at that statement, of course, she was still mad who wouldn't be.

"What is it exactly you want to know again?" Lucy asked,

"Just what happened my dear,"

"I told you that already, I got captured about a year ago by that psycho and I have been locked in his base ever since."

"I see; do you know why you were taken?"

"Not really, he kept going on about some locked up power or something. Not particularly sure what he meant but he wanted access to it," Lucy put her finger to her lips in thought about what he could have wanted her magic for and the Hokage looked to be in deep thought.

"Is there anything else he mentioned to you?"

"Not much I always ended up passing out before I could hear him finish, but he mentioned a vessel of some kind." Lucy looked furrowed her brows in worry about what Orochimaru could be doing. All of those experiments and he was trying to preserve her body in some way. The Hokage cleared his throat and Lucy broke out of her thoughts.

"If you're up for, child, I would like to test you on a few things."

 **Time Skip**

Lucy was standing in the middle of the forest of death sweat dropping, she had her bow and arrows on her back and she had just killed a giant centipede "Why exactly am I doing this again?" Lucy shouted,

"The aim of this is to get to the tower in the middle while evading any traps my Jonin have set up, before dawn tomorrow that is." Lucy heard the Hokage voice echo throughout the forest. Lucy was currently trying not to be eaten by anything in this forest but she also had to avoid any of the Jonin that had been in the Hokage's office with her. Lucy's just lucky that Ibiki wasn't a part of it or she would've been dead by now.

Lucy sighed and sat on the ground and closed her eyes, keeping her senses on guard as she silently spoke with her spirits _. 'Okay guys, a little help please,'_ she pleaded with them, _'I need to be able to tell where everyone is or at least where they have set up any traps,'_

 _'Well, Lucy I'm looking through my archives and have found out that at least two of the Jonin specialise in. The ones that got you out of the base, I'm afraid that is all I can do at this moment in time,'_ Lucy heard Crux tell her as she was still sitting on the ground calmly.

' _No worries, thanks for all of your help,_ ' Lucy said as Crux transferred the information to her, a wood style user huh? That's a new one and a fire user, this is already turning out to be difficult and that's only two of them. Both of them are skilled at taijutsu and Lucy doesn't know any genjutsu so that's out. She needed to get more information on the rest of them before she did anything else, just heading straight towards the tower wouldn't do her any good.

Lucy suddenly stood up and created five lightning clones, one for each Jonin and them sent them looking, each one had 72° of ground to cover. This jutsu took up a lot chakra especially for five of them, but that's why Lucy was going to wait for them to disappear and give her the information she needs. In the meantime, she was going to meditate and gather chakra.

 **Time Skip**

By the time Lucy had filled her chakra pool by two, thirds Lucy's clones had all been defeated by either a trap that they took note of or by fighting a Jonin. Giving all of the information to Crux so that they could work out a strategy, Lucy and Crux's silent conversation was interrupted though when she sensed a kunai heading straight for her.

Leaning towards the right to avoid being hit, then rolling so she was on her knees and asked Virgo to unseal her halberd, her left hand was on the ground for balance while her right hand was holding her halberd. She rose up off of her knees but still kept her left hand on the ground. Lucy took a deep breath in and tried to hear for where the person who threw the kunai was. Trying to keep her breathing steady Lucy stayed in the same position, not moving, her head still facing the ground and she had her eyes closed. Lucy pushed chakra into her feet and released it, it caused her to move into the forest and out of the clearing that she was just in and away from whoever threw the kunai. Leaving dents in the ground where her feet used to be.

Racing through the forest, Lucy was still trying to find a way to get to the tower, the Jonin had obviously trapped the area around it and she needed to find a way to either detect them or avoid them. Unfortunately, she hadn't studied any other ninjutsu besides for those of her chakra nature, she didn't even know if she could perform another nature type.

 _'Crux, have we come across any earth style jutsus that are similar to Virgos digging magic?_ ' she mentally asked, hoping that she could perform it.

 _'Not that I'm aware of but you may just be able to create your own,'_ Lucy was surprised to hear him say that 'if you could combine Virgo's magic with an earth style jutsu you might be able to drill a hole without requiring Virgo's star dress Lucy's eyes brightened up,

 _'Grampa Crux, if I could I would kiss you,'_ Lucy replied as she got to work, sorting through all of the hand signs that she knew might work while coating herself in Virgo's durability, she began to spin at a rapid rate.

"Earth Style: drill," she shouted as her feet began to sink into the ground slowly, she coated herself with more of Virgos power and put a layer of chakra around it so it would prevent injury and she started to sink faster, once her head was in the ground Lucy put her hands together above her head and changed direction. Now she was digging a horizontal tunnel towards the tower, she had kept going until she heard an explosion from up above her and felt the tunnel start to cave in.

"An explosion tag?" Lucy said in a panic, she started digging upwards trying not to be caved in. Once Lucy had reached the surface she sat back against a tree breathing heavily. Earth style jutsus were really taxing on her, it appeared. Lucy quickly asked Virgo for her halberd again because it didn't look like she was going to be using chakra anytime soon.

 _'So I can't travel underground, there goes my plan,'_ Lucy thought to herself as she kept her guard up. She was covered in dirt and all sweaty. _'Crux which of the ninja is the least likely to use taijutsu?'_ she silently asked him,

 _'The wood style user,'_ came his reply, ' _okay its time I go and wear them out if I do that it won't matter if I set off one of their traps because I could still have enough time to get away. I just hope it works, or else I'll be too exhausted to make it to the tower_ '. Lucy thought to herself as she set out to find Yamato, who was introduced to her before they all left Lord Hokage's office. Lucy was running towards the place one of her lightning clones disappeared from in search of the wood style user, hoping to catch a peek at him somewhere, or one of his traps. Her clone had gotten defeated by one of his traps, it was a vine net. So Lucy used her halberd as a walking stick, to make sure she doesn't step into a trap of some kind.

She kept her guard up and took out a few explosion tags from her previous key pouch and made sure to attach them to some kunai because he was a ninjutsu type and Lucy is currently low on chakra, an explosion tag could make for either a defensive technique or a distraction. Lucy was thinking of ways to either avoid Yamato's ninjutsu or on how to break them, unfortunately, every strategy she had figured out involved chakra and she couldn't afford to waste any right now because of her experimenting earlier.

 _'Let's hope I can restrain him long enough to call for help, this way I can attempt to make it to the tower or even better...'_ Her thoughts trailed off as she started working on a new strategy and she was going to need all of her weapons.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy had set everything up and now she was ready, she had found the wood style user. The only problem was, was that she had a time limit, the sun had just set. She only had another ten to eleven hours left, Lucy needed to make this plan work. Of course, she has made room for adjustments, but if this plan didn't work out she would be running on empty.

Looking towards Yamato Lucy created a clone of herself and gave her Fleuve D'étoiles and sent her into hiding. Lucy then grabbed her halberd and dashed out quietly in an attempt to hit him, but he blocked her with a kunai of his own. Lucy backflipped away from him to create some distance between them.

"You must either be really brave or really stupid, to take me on one on one," he said bringing the kunai out in front of him,

"I'd like to think of myself as spunky," she replied, she had, had many nicknames in the past made by friend and foe alike but never had anyone called her spunky, she wanted to try it. She then decided to just leave the nicknames for everyone else to decide, even Gajeel's nickname for her was better. Lucy sweatdropped at her own thoughts before she blocked a taijutsu attack from Yamato and she frowned, she was hoping to see some wood style while she still had the energy to counteract it. At least to give herself an idea of the style for later references.

Lucy closed her eyes and changed her fighting position so that she would be on the offensive and took a deep breath, she then opened her eyes to focus only on her opponent. She saw Yamato's eyes widen before she took advantage of his surprised state and attacked him head-on. Jumping up and raising her halberd over her head reading to bring it down upon him, he moved away just in time and in his place was a small crater created by the attack. Yamato's eyes widened at the sight but then narrowed as he took on a more serious stance.

This girl is serious.


	6. Chapter 6

Lucy was breathing deeply as she dodged another attack from Yamato and prepared an attack of her own, they had been going back and forth for a few hours now. Yamato had only shown a few different wood style techniques but Lucy thinks she understands how it works.

Lucy knew that she wouldn't be able to go on much longer and she needed to replenish her chakra or she won't make it to the tower. Lucy started throwing kunai's at Yamato, he dodged them effortlessly and soon enough there were kunai sticking out in all directions. Lucy took a deep breath and discreetly signalled her clone to make her move. Lucy's clone saw the light reflect off of her originals halberd three times and knew that it was her turn. Quietly jumping down from the tree she was in Lucy's clone grabbed her whip and swung it up over a branch, she tied the handle to a stump and extended the whip out towards the ninja fighting her original.

Catching Yamato's foot just as he was about to lunge at Lucy he fell into his front and looked down at what had caught him, the whip started to extend and curl around his leg. Once he started to struggle Lucy's clone started to pull him towards the tree and the whip still continued to curl around his body. Once he got to the tree the whip had him in a body bind. Lucy's clone disappeared as the original Lucy started making her way towards the struggle Yamato in order to put a seal on his mouth. "This seal should stop the blood from rushing to your head," Lucy half explained and once she was finished she put tape over his mouth to keep him from making noise. Lucy still had a few hours to regain chakra and she wanted nothing to disturb her, she walked into the trees and ignored the struggling Jonin and started meditating.

 **Time skip a few hours**

The other Jonin surrounded gathered together in a small opening waiting for Yamato to show up, "what do you think is keeping him?" Asuma Sarutobi asked the others,

"Not sure, you think he could be fighting Lucy?" Anko wondered out loud,

"Surely he would've sent a wood clone to inform us," Asuma replied to that,

"Perhaps he got captured," Kakashi lazily said,

"Come on, Yamato caught by that kid?" Asuma stated looking doubtful,

"You saw her fight Anko, you think it's possible?" Kakashi looked towards her and saw that she was once again eating a dango stick,

"That girl is an excellent fighter but even I think it's too farfetched," Anko stated, Kakashi sighed and turned back to his book. The only one who hadn't spoken was Shibi Aburame, the final Jonin of the group. He had been asked to join in on this because of his clans jutsus, he specialised in tracking and trapping, perfect for this exercise. Shibi had been tracking Lucy with his bugs, in fact, one of them was on her now.

"Yamato has been captured," was all he said before following his bugs in the direction of both Lucy and Yamato, with the rest of the Jonin's following behind, two with a look of disbelief and one had tightened his grip on his book.

"This could be a trap, what if she found out about us regrouping because of everything that's happened so far I wouldn't be surprised if she knew," asked Asuma, finally taking things seriously,

"It's most defiantly a trap, which is why one of us is going to stay back and observe," Kakashi stated lazily not looking up from his book,

"Who will do that though?" Anko asked,

"It should probably be Shibi or Kakashi, they are more adept to observation," Asuma whispered just as Shibi gestured that they were close, the shinobi gathered around and saw Yamato in the clearing, only he was upside down and tied up tight with his arms strictly at his side. He had on a blind for and what looked to be a sleeve tied around his mouth but kept his nose uncovered. Asuma bit back a laugh at how ridiculous he looked and wondered how he got into this situation in the first place.

Asuma walked out into the clearing and took off Yamato's blindfold when Yamato realise it was him he started struggling and trying to talk but because of the gag, Asuma couldn't understand a thing. Anko and Shibi started walking towards them as well as Kakashi volunteered to observe. Asuma took off the gag only to realise that there was a seal placed on Yamato's mouth and when Yamato opened his mouth the static in the air became thicker. Asuma, Anko and Shibi all turned to look around them, only to see several kunai stuck in trees light up with lightning.

"You guys need to get out of here quickly," Yamato shouted but it was too late, each of the kunai started connecting to the other with strands of lightning, all around them, caging them in. It looked like one of those invisible laser traps after they become visible again but with lightning. Anko slowly walked towards one of the lightning strands and tried to jump over it, ignoring the protests from Yamato and ended up getting zapped by lightning. Anko screamed and fell to the ground, unable to move.

"What the hell happened? She didn't even touch it?" Asuma yelled and Shibi looked around on guard.

Lucy jumped out of the tree she was hiding in and walked out towards the edge of the field, "she'll be fine, it was just a small zap to numb some of her nerves so that she can't move. It should wear off on a couple hours maybe even less," she explained, Asuma had an angry look on his face but his panic resided at the explanation, Shibi looked apathetic as always but you could see his shoulders relax slightly once Lucy finished talking. "I'll undo the seal once this is over," Lucy stated as she turned around to start running in the direction of the tower only to be stopped by Kakashi blocking her path, still reading his orange coloured book.

Lucy tensed as she got into a defensive position and transformed into her Cancer form, bringing the two swords out in front of her. Kakashi was just about to pull up his forehead protector that was covering his left eye when Lucy sped past him with newfound speed. Quickly putting his book away and uncovering his eye he took off after her, Lucy tried to run as fast as she could but her lack of food and lost muscle strength she was starting to get tired. Not wanting to waste the chakra that she had regained waiting for the Jonin Lucy ran through the trees without it. From the information that was gathered from her lightning clone, Lucy knew that Kakashi had a few tricks up his sleeve, his use of substitution jutsus was enough to know that. He liked to gather information on his opponents as well, from what she could gather, but he was also skilled in all aspects of fighting. Add that to his experience and Lucy was put at a major disadvantage.

Lucy was just about to make it to the tree line that surrounded to Tower when she tripped over a root, she let out a small squeak as she landed on her face, "I managed to avoid all of those traps but I trip over a tree root?" Lucy mumbled to herself as she started to brush herself off before she could start running again Kakashi landed in front of her with his Sharingan out.

Lucy held out her swords in front of her, looking towards the red-eye wondering what it was when all of a sudden she started to feel hazy. Lucy realised that he tried to put her under a genjutsu and decided to play along for a moment. Standing there with a hazy look on her face she tried to remain calm as Kakashi walked towards her when he reached forward in order to pick her up Lucy grabbed his outstretched hand and pulled him towards her and stuck out her foot to trip him. Kakashi quickly stepped over her foot quickly as to not fall over and quickly turned and grabbed a hold of the back of her head, Lucy still had a hold of his other hand and used it to keep herself upright as Kakashi started pushing her head down. Letting her head fall suddenly and then bringing up one of her legs to kick Kakashi in the should, adding a small amount of chakra to add in force.

Kakashi grunted and let go of her head and Lucy let go of his arm and jumped back to create some distance. Lucy picked up her swords which she had dropped when Kakashi attempted to put her under a genjutsu. She took on another defensive position and waited for him to make a move, Kakashi stood to stare at Lucy as if bored and waited for her to lose her patients but she didn't. She just stood there on guard in her defensive position, her eyes were the only things that moved, she moved her eyes all around the area and back to him over and over again.

Lucy struggled to find a way to get to the tower, she couldn't make the first move and she couldn't wait for her time to run out, she had done that enough and she needed to factor in the time that she may lose by setting off a trap. Lucy knew that this guy would stand there until her time ran out too, what could she do? She looked behind him and her eyes widened a fraction, "how did you?" Lucy cut herself off from her question as Kakashi turned around to look behind him.

Lucy then pushed chakra into her legs and started running in the direction of the tower once again, "didn't think that would actually work," she whispered to herself smirking, sometimes hanging around the boys in the guild paid off. Their stupidity was good for something at last.

When Kakashi turned back around to face Lucy with a confused look on his face he was met with an empty space in front of him and he groaned sweatdropping. He got caught up in how serious she looked and thought there was really someone behind him, despite not sensing anything. He took off after her, trying to catch up, he only caught up the last time because she tripped and he doubted she was going to make that same mistake again.

Lucy had just dodged a kunai that had been thrown at her from behind and she knew that Kakashi was catching up, she needed to think of something. Horologium said that there were only forty minutes left before the sun started to rise. Lucy threw a kunai with an exploding tag on it behind her and released it, using the smoke as cover Lucy changed her direction slightly hoping to throw him off, not know that Kakashi could still see her because of the Sharingan.

Kakashi turned to follow her pushing himself to go slightly faster. Lucy was starting to slow down, using up her magic by transforming into her star dress for too long, she transformed back into her original clothes and started pushing chakra into her legs instead. By this time Lucy had made it out of the tree line and into the open, running towards the tower that was now only a couple of kilometres away. Suddenly she was tackled to the ground, she and Kakashi fought for control. Rolling around on the ground trying to gain the upper hand, finally, Kakashi pinned Lucy on her back, holding both of her hands above her head with one of his own and a kunai at her throat with the other. Lucy was breathing unevenly trying to catch her breath, there was now twenty minutes left.

"Do you forfeit?" Kakashi asked pressing the kunai deeper into her skin to leave a small cut, Lucy looked at her options, she was exhausted and almost out of chakra. Lucy looked towards the tower, eighteen minutes left. Lucy brought her knee up and because of her size, hit him in the stomach. She freed her hands and grabbed the kunai that was being pressed against her throat and threw it to the side. Kakashi fell off of her while he was slightly winded and was knocked to the ground by her punching him in the face.

Lucy started running once again this time pushing as much chakra as she could into her legs and feet. Kakashi rubbed his head and got up to follow her once he realised how fast she was running, using a teleportation jutsu to get behind her this time and push her to the ground. Ten minutes left. Lucy was struggling to get up she was only a couple feet away from the tower but she felt a foot on her back keeping her in place. "There are less than ten minutes to go, why don't you just forfeit now?" Kakashi asked, slightly confused at her for continuing to struggle.

"No way," Lucy said as she grabbed the ground in front of her and tried to pull herself the last couple of feet despite the foot that was pressed into her back, "for so long, I've been fighting. Fighting for my life, fighting for others' lives, fighting for my sanity, I'm not giving up just because I'm a couple of feet away." Lucy yelled out as she continued to drag herself forward.

Kakashi looked down at her surprised, she was only eight years old. What exactly could she have been fighting, she couldn't have been fighting for that long, right? He frowned as he continued to look down at her, "but you have no chance, there are only five minutes left, why not just give up and stop wasting your time, it's only a test,"

"A lot can happen in just five minutes," by this time Lucy was within reach of the tower and was about to touch it only to have Kakashi's foot slam down on her hand and break the wrist bone so that she couldn't move it. Lucy almost screamed in pain but she clenched her mouth shut and used her elbow and her other hand to drag herself closer. Kakashi almost couldn't believe that she was still trying to get to the tower. She was drained of chakra and her hand was broken, he thought that she would certainly stop and forfeit by now. He thought about breaking her other hand but the Hokage said that this was only a test on her abilities and to see how well she strategised her way out of a situation and he didn't want to hurt her unnecessarily, he was just pushing her to forfeit. One-minute left.

Lucy reached out with her unbroken hand and was about to touch the tower when she was pulled up by her unbroken wrist to dangle in the air in front of Kakashi. Lucy was exhausted, her breathing was slow and deep and she had dirt all over her face, her broken hand was laying by her side limply but you could see the pain on her face and the blood that was smeared across various places of her skin. Her clothes were ripped and she was looking at Kakashi intensely, she was thoroughly beaten.

Lucy kicked her legs out as the last attempt at getting loose but was unable because of her size. Lucy let herself become unconscious as she heard the alarm go off, telling her that time was up. Kakashi carefully placed her back on the ground trying to be careful about her broken wrist as he waited for the Hokage to show up. By the time the Hokage showed up, Kakashi had gotten out his book and started reading it again, leaning against the tower that Lucy tried so hard to get to. Lucy was currently laying on the ground in the shade, with her head on the grass.

"What do you think of her then?" The Hokage asked as he walked up to Kakashi and looked down at the girl, Kakashi looked up briefly before turning back to his book,

"She overexerted herself, she needs to know when to give in," Kakashi stated in a bored tone, the Hokage chuckled lightly at his tone,

"Don't you do the same thing though? Overusing that Sharingan?" Kakashi frowned at that knowing that he couldn't deny it, "besides from what I heard she's had to fight for her life on multiple occasions, she probably doesn't know how to give up."

Kakashi didn't show any reaction to his words but was internally frowning, not knowing when to quit could be dangerous. The Hokage motioned for Kakashi to pick up Lucy and follow him to the other Jonin's that the girl had managed to capture. Coming into the clearing the Hokage cleared his throat and the Asuma and Shibi who were the only ones capable of moving and stood up from their game of cards. Where Asuma had been claiming that Shibi was using his bugs to cheat, both of the Jonin turned towards Kakashi who was still holding Lucy.

"What happened to the kid? She looks way worse than what she did earlier," Asuma asked slightly worried for her and Shibi only nodded his head, indicating that he too was curious.

"It appears that Kakashi stopped her before she got to the tower," was all the Hokage said and Asuma and Shibi turned their accusing faces towards him, Kakashi only sighed before placing the girl down so that he could read his book. "I wonder how we are going to undo this seal?" Lord Hokage wondered out loud, turning his gaze towards the seal on Yamato's mouth.

"We don't know either, we've been trying to figure out which one she used but the seal itself is difficult to understand, it's like it's in a different language," Asuma said scratching the back of his head slightly.

"That's because I used multiple seals to create it," a tired voice was heard behind them and they all turned to look at the girl who had only been unconscious for a short amount of time. Lucy was struggling to stand up, she was holding her broken wrist to her chest as she wobbled slightly as she got to her feet. She slowly walked over to where Yamato was tied up and covered her hand above his mouth, not touching him. She closed her eyes and extracted any leftover chakra from the seal making it disappear and then walked over to the numb Anko and pushes the chakra from the seal into her body to regulate her chakra flow again. Lucy collapsed onto the floor again and tried hard to stay awake, she felt herself being picked up and passed out once again.

 **Time Skip**

The Jonin's surrounded the Hokages desk ready to discuss the girl that was currently in the hospital once again. "So what exactly are we going to do with her?" Asuma asked,

"I'm going to ask her to become a ninja of the village," the Hokage stated and some of the Jonin's looked up surprised, "this means that we could have a skilled kunoichi in our future ranks, this will also make it easier to keep an eye on her," the Hokage continued and he saw the a Jonin relax slightly.

"By asking you mean force, right?" Kakashi stated bluntly not looking up from his book,

"Essentially yes but why wouldn't she want to be one. Why learn all of that if she didn't want to become a ninja?" The Hokage asked rhetorically, not expecting an answer from anyone in the room and most of them agreed with him. Except for the Jonin who saw the look in her eyes as she fought him, from what he observed she didn't look like she wanted to be a ninja. Why explain her traps or reassure them that they wouldn't be fatally injured, doesn't sound like much of a ninja to him but he kept quiet and continued to read his book as they discussed the girl some more.

"There is a matter of where she will be staying though, I don't want to leave her alone for the time being, we don't know what she plans to do in the future and with her skills I don't want her to have free range of the village," at this statement the Jonin's grew quiet waiting to hear Lord Hokage next words, "one of you will be watching over her, you've seen her skills and know what she's capable of so I want one of you to take her in."

Anko had an excited look on her face at this statement and began to hop on the spot, the Hokage sweatdropped at Anko and looked at all of his Jonin trying to determine which would be better equipped at watching over an eight-year-old girl. "Yamato, you currently have back to back missions yes?" The Hokage questioned,

"Yes, sir,"

"You may go," the Hokage said, though was slightly disappointed, other than Yamato's prior responsibilities he would have been perfect to watch Lucy, patient, skilled and understanding. Turning towards his remaining four Jonin he asked which were too busy to watch over the girl and Shibi had raised his hand. Already knowing Shibi Aburame's prior engagements he allowed him to leave, Anko remained jumping on the spot while Asuma looked uncomfortable. The only child Asuma had been around was his nephew Konohamaru and he was still a toddler, he didn't know anything about children.

"Asuma, I was about to send you on an extended mission before this all came up so you may go and I'll summon you later," before the Hokage even finished his sentence Asuma was already out of the door. Lord Hokage chuckled lightly before turning towards his remaining two Jonin, one looked excited about the possibility of looking out for a little girl and the other looked bored to death.

"So which one of you wants to take care of Lucy?" Lord Hokage said and just before Anko could say anything Kakashi said,

"I'll take care of her," silence endured after that, even Kakashi himself was shocked but quickly rearranged his features, "I'll do it," he repeated lazily before going back to his book once more.

"Lord Hokage I don't know if this is a good idea besides I would be happy to care for Lucy," Anko said after the Hokage sent Kakashi to go fix up his spare room for Lucy,

"Nonsense Anko, this could be good for Kakashi, haven't you noticed how young Lucy has affected him already?" Lord Hokage asked,

"I can see clearly but what about Lucy? Kakashi broke her hand do you think she's going to be comfortable living with him, we want her to want to be in the village don't we?"

"Of course we do but I think both of them could benefit from this arrangement. If you're still worried then you can watch her when Kakashi has a mission, to check in so to speak," the Hokage finished and Anko knew that there was no use arguing anymore so she agreed.

 **With Lucy**

Lucy had woken up to find herself in the hospital yet again, she sat up and checked her wrists to make sure she hasn't handcuffed again and sighed in relief when she only saw a cast. Lucy heard her stomach grumble and quietly asked Horologium how long she had been there for, _'you've been in the hospital for two days Miss Lucy,_ ' Horologium replied,

 _'You shouldn't overwork yourself like that beautiful,_ ' Lucy heard Loke call out to her,

 _'I know, I'm sorry if I worried anybody,'_ Lucy spoke to all of them this time, Lucy sighed as she heard the silence of the room. How she wished she could summon one of her spirits to talk to or even cuddle with. Silence just reminds Lucy that she's not at the guild, where noise seems to be endless, she looked out the window with a blank look on her face, _they're all smiling_ , she thought to herself as she continued to look out at all of the people and the shops. Hearing the door open Lucy looked over to see the Hokage and Kakashi, quickly putting a close-eyed smile on her face Lucy greeted them but she missed the look that was passed between the two.

"So, my dear, the doctor let me sign your discharge sheet and Kakashi has agreed to let you stay with him for the time being but I want to meet you tomorrow at noon in my office we have something more to discuss," the Hokage said before he swiftly left the hospital room grumbling about paperwork.

The room was silent as Kakashi didn't look up from his book and Lucy sat still in the bed not quite sure what to do. "Aren't you going to change?" Kakashi asked bored,

"S-Sure, I'll be out in a minute," Lucy tentatively replied as she grabbed the clothes that were left for her on the chair before moving into the adjoining bathroom to get changed.

When Lucy walked out she started walking towards the door where Kakashi was still reading, Kakashi made his way out of the Hospital as soon as he realised Lucy was there, expecting her to follow him. As they walked through the village Lucy noticed people staring at them and wrung her hands nervously, Kakashi seemed to take no notice of them though. Lucy strained her ears once she heard people whispering,

"Who's that I've never seen her?"

"I heard she was captured by rogues,"

"Do you think it's safe to allow her to stay?"

"You don't think she's another demon do you?"

That last one got Lucy curious, _'there's a demon in this village_?' Lucy frowned at the thought if there was a demon she wondered what it looked like, ' _would they be like Mira? Able to take over a demon some way or would it be like the Tartorous demons, made for a purpose and do anything to achieve that ambition?'_ Lucy was looking forward to meeting this demon of the village.

"A demon huh?" Lucy whispered not realising the look she was getting from her knew caretaker as they walked to her temporary home.

 **FairyTail POV 2 years later after Lucy disappeared**

Silence ensued as everyone gathers around Lucy's memorial stone, it has been one year since Lucy was last seen alive and almost everyone had given up ever finding her again, except for a pink haired boy and his blue cat. They refused to believe that Lucy was dead.

They took extended missions all around Earth land, sometimes they were gone for months before they came back for a few days and then set off again. People were getting worried about them, Natsu had bags underneath his eyes and Happy always seemed to be low on magic because he's been flying everywhere. Natsu refused to listen to reason, every time someone tried to convince him to at least take a break he wouldn't, he could only sleep if he was in Lucy's apartment which he had been paying the rent for. Sometimes a member of the team would tag along with him just to make sure he'd eat or that Happy got to rest. Nobody tried to get him to stop anymore because of the last incident,

 _Flashback 1 year ago_

 _Natsu and Happy had just walked into the guild and grabbed another job off of the board and went to Mira to get it signed off. Mira was about to stamp the job when she looked up at him and told him that she wouldn't,_

 _"Natsu, you and Happy need to rest, I'll keep the job for you but I don't want to hear you ask for it for at least three days okay," Mira's voice was soft and soothing and the only reason he agreed was that she said she would hold the job._

 _Natsu walked towards Gajeel and Levy's table to ask if they had any new leads to go on and to exchange information about anything that they had gathered. Gajeel and Levy kept an eye and nose out for anything that Natsu may have missed and while they weren't actively searching for Lucy they did do research in their own time along with PantherLily, Freed also came to them with information gathered by the Thunder Legion._

 _"Natsu maybe you should stop," came a concerned voice from behind him and he turned to see Lisanna looking at him worried._

 _"I already promised Mira I would for three days," came to his tired reply,_

 _"No, I mean more permanently," Natsu froze as he heard this and the guild went silent turning towards him wondering what he would do,_

 _"I can't, Lucy's out their somewhere and I won't stop until I find her," he said firmly trying to get her to leave it alone, Happy nodded his head at Lisanna from his place on Natsu's head,_

 _"Look we all miss her, but you are overworking yourself why can't you just face the facts," Lisanna started to raise her voice and her siblings started to make their way over to her,_

 _"Lisanna that's enough, I just got him to agree to rest," Mira said quietly resting a hand on Lisanna's shoulder,_

 _"No I won't stop, he is hurting himself and I'm not going to let it happen anymore, it would be better for everyone if he just stops," Lisanna yelled out and Natsu turned to glare at her making Lisanna look at him in shock, he's never glared at her before._

 _"Would it be better for Lucy? Would it be better for her if I stopped looking for her?" He asked her and started to walk closer to her,_

 _"No, but she's..." Lisanna started but Natsu didn't let her finish because he slammed his hand down on the table beside her making her flinch,_

 _"Lucy is not dead," he shouted, "If she was how come Loke hasn't come here to give us her keys huh?" He shouted and everyone froze at what he just said, "We all know that he can open his own gate and come here on his own power so if Lucy was really gone why isn't he here to tell us?" Everyone looked down at the ground knowing he was right. "Mira, can I have the usual to go please?" Natsu asked quietly before he moved towards the bar to wait for his food and Mira got to work quickly._

 _Once he had gotten his food he made his way out of the guild and no one saw him until three days later when he came back to get the job from Mira._

 _End flashback_

Back then no one had expected Natsu act like that to Lisanna of all people and since then Natsu had gotten help from Yukino and the twin dragons from Sabertooth, Minerva had also pitched in to try and make up for the Magic Games incident. While Natsu didn't spend a lot of time with Yukino he knew she was the only one who understood what he meant.

Before the war with Zeref and Acnologia, Yukino and Lucy made a vow that if something were to happen to one of them, their keys would go to the other so that they could find loving key holders for them and Yukino had yet to see Lucy's keys so she was going to help Natsu look for her.

 **End fairytail POV**

Lucy and Kakashi had just stopped outside of Kakashi's house and Lucy was waiting for Kakashi to take out his keys, as she walked through she said 'excuse the intrusion' and took off her sandals and placed them by the front door. Kakashi leads her into the sitting area and Lucy looked at the bookcase on the other side of the room. She hasn't read a book in almost a year and just being so close to them was driving her crazy, it took everything in her not to run over there and jump the bookcase. Kakashi noticed her look but continued to show her around the house occasionally telling her where she wasn't allowed to go.

Once they got back to the sitting area Kakashi went into the kitchen and told Lucy to make herself comfortable, Lucy says on the couch and did nothing but stare at the bookcase. Noticing all of the books were non-fiction, they were all about chakra and jutsus and weapons and Lucy had to stop herself from drooling. All of that knowledge just sitting there and there she was, just a few feet away, waiting for food instead of reading one of them. When Kakashi came back he had two sandwiches and he noticed Lucy still staring at his bookcase. He sat down and waited for Lucy to notice he was there but when ten minutes had passed he cleared his throat, Lucy squeaked and jumped in her seat, she quickly righted herself and apologised before she started eating, sneaking glances at the bookcase when she thought Kakashi wasn't looking.

Kakashi had finished his lunch quickly, Lucy didn't even see him take his mask off and when Kakashi had noticed that she was nearly finished he decided to speak, "You know, you can read those books if you like," Once he said that Lucy froze and for a second he thought something was wrong with her before she quickly stuffed her face with the last of her sandwich and all but ran over to the bookcase and took out three books before running up to her temporary room while throwing a 'thank you' over her shoulder and slamming the door shut behind her. Kakashi was left sitting there looking after her with an amused expression on his masked face before cleaning up the plates and continued to read his own book.

Lucy had been using her gale force glasses to read the books she had chosen so she was finished with them by the time Kakashi had called her down for dinner, taking them into the sitting area and placing them back onto the bookcase she went into the kitchen to see Kakashi had pulled down his mask and she gasped, Kakashi looked up at her shocked for a moment and pulled his mask back up quickly, Lucy looked at him disappointed and he looked back at her confused,

"It's normal," she mumbled quietly, Kakashi continued to look at her confused, Lucy sighed and pouted slightly,

"You look completely normal, I was hoping for some kind of disfigurement or abnormality but no, it was normal," Lucy continued to pout and crossed her arms over her chest and Kakashi sweatdropped,

"You seriously thought that?"

"Yes, why else would you wear a creepy serial killer mask all of the time?" Lucy asked completely serious and Kakashi got a tick mark on the left side of his head as she sat down to eat her dinner, "for some reason I always pictures you without teeth but instead you just have a silly little beauty mark on the left of your chin," Lucy sighed in disappointment and Kakashi looked at her with a look that she wasn't familiar with,

"Did you get bored of the books?" Kakashi asked in his usual monotone voice and Lucy looked up at him confused, "I saw you put them back,"

"Oh no, I just finished them already," Lucy said as she ate the last of the takeout ramen that he had gotten and put her rubbish in the bin, "thank you for the meal," she said and Kakashi was looking at her shocked but didn't say anything. Lucy went back into the sitting area to grab another couple of books to read before she got ready for the night. While reading Lucy thought about what the Hokage would want to talk with her about? _Orochimaru? What his test meant?_

How Lucy wished she could get Gemini to copy him but obtaining that information would be too suspicious and she was already being watched, Lucy could tell that she was being followed since she left the hospital room with Kakashi but she didn't let her irritation show because she knew that it was better if she was being followed. That way Lucy could show them that she had nothing to do with Orochimaru and that she meant no threat to the village, Lucy sighed, how she wished she was dealing with the magic council at least they made their suspicions clear.

Lucy was turned at an angle so that you couldn't see her flip through the pages of the book from the window, it only looked like she was ready with glasses on. She made a mental note of everything she read about ninjutsu because while she felt like she had a natural draw to it, it was still taxing on her when she uses a jutsu for the first time. Like with her Earth Style technique, despite using some of Virgo's magic it exhausted her, physically and of her chakra.

Lucy looked outside once she finished the book and noticed how late it had gotten, she looked to see that the stars were out and she looked towards Aquarius constellation. Lucy looked down and put a hand up to touch the broken key that she usually kept around her neck only to remember that she had lost it before she fell through the portal, along with the old rusted key that brought her here. Lucy layer down on the bed that had been loaned to her and tried to fall asleep but felt uncomfortable as she felt the eyes that never left her.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy looked around and saw that she was in an enclosed room, she tried to move but realised that her arms and legs were chained to the floor and walls. The line door on the other side opened and a cloaked figure made their way to her, they blindfolded her before they unlocked her chains and tied her hands together and started shoving her outside of the room.

Lucy knew where she was going, she was going to the pit, she heard rumours from you the others, eventually, after you get experimented on enough Orochimaru sends you into the pit. It's like a boxing arena if you step outside the line you lose and get punished. Lucy was thrown to the floor and she got a mouthful of dirt before her blindfold had been taken off. Looking around, she realised that there was another person on the other side of the arena, a big burly man with multiple scars and was wielding an axe.

The person that dragged her here untied her hands and slammed the door that he threw her through behind him,

"This will be a battle to the death," Lucy heard from above her and looked up to see Orochimaru standing on the outside of the arena, Lucy looked back at the person across from her and saw that he looked smug, "this is my favourite, he has never lost," Orochimaru said and Lucy suddenly realised the situation she was in, a fight to the death? How could she fight him without a weapon and why does one of them have to die?

The man across from her suddenly started running towards her and Lucy dodged the axe that was aimed for her head. Lucy continued to dodge and avoid being hit until she felt herself being shocked, "If you don't fight you will die," Orochimaru shouted from above them,

"I won't kill him," Lucy yelled back, the man still looked smug and you could tell that he didn't feel bad for anything that was happening,

"Why try and protect this man? He didn't hesitate in trying to kill you,"

"I won't kill simply for the sake of it," Lucy yelled back as she dodged yet another series of attacks,

"What about for your life," the man she was facing grumbled as he aimed for her head once again, Lucy stopped the man's axe from hitting her head and pushed chakra into her free hand. Lucy punches the man on top of her into the stomach and released the chakra on contact and Lucy suddenly felt him stop, she felt liquid running down her arm.

Pulling her arm back she looked at it to find blood costing her hand and she felt herself panic. Her breathing got deeper, her throat tightened, tears came to her eyes, her stomach dropped and she felt like she was going to be sick. Lucy looked at the man that had dropped to the ground beside her and saw he wasn't moving, "well done," she heard in her ear.

Lucy sat up in her bed with a gasp, she looked around and realised that it was just a dream, well more like a memory. Taking deep breaths Lucy jumped out of bed and raced into the bathroom to wash her hands, Lucy scrubbed her hands until they were raw, "why won't it come off?" She whispered and continued to scrub, the memory of her first real kill still in her mind.

The man may have been aiming to kill her but Lucy just wanted to get him off and that was when she realised what Orochimaru's experiments were doing to her body, they made her faster, replenished her chakra quicker as well as increased the amount she could hold, her body healed faster and her strength increased. Which was why Lucy mostly used her halberd during that test. Lucy finally stopped scrubbing her hands once she realised that tears were streaming down her face and she quickly splashed her face with water and returned to her current room. Not realising the eyes that followed her every step.

Lucy got back to her room and immediately changed into the outfit she had on the day before and opened the window, she climbed onto the roof and curled into a ball and shoved her head in-between her knees. Taking deep breaths to try and stop herself from shaking, Lucy couldn't bring herself to look up from her knees even as she felt someone sit down beside her.

"It won't ever wash away, will it?" She finally brought herself to ask, her voice shaking slightly,

"No, it won't," she heard Kakashi's reply and she shoved her head further into her knees, willing herself to just disappear and she finally let the tears fall when she felt Kakashi put a hand on her head. Lucy stayed silent as her tears fell but her shaking got worse the more she let it go.

Kakashi looked down at her small form and didn't know what to do, he knew no matter what he said nothing would make this easier for her, he knew that better than anybody. Deciding then that he would be early for once and go to the Hokages office before Lucy to discuss what the Hokage had planned for her.

When Lucy finally stopped shaking Kakashi looked down at her and noticed that she had fallen asleep, he hooked his arm beneath her knees and picked her up. Kakashi jumped into Lucy's window and set her down onto the bed and covered her up before he walked out of the room and into his own.

 **With the Hokage**

The Sandaime smiled as he looked into his crystal ball (have no idea what it really is :p) before he finished up for the night, he sighed as he thought about what secrets Lucy has been hiding but he knew that if he got a Yamanaka to look through her mind against her will then she would never trust them and if Orochimaru wants her it might be good to have her on their side. The Hokage locked to door to his office and went home for the night, still wondering about the girl.


	7. Chapter 7

Lucy had just woken up to find herself back in her bedroom, Kakashi must have brought her back in after she fell asleep. Lucy looked down at her clothes and sighed, she needed to go shopping today but she had no money and she didn't want to ask Kakashi, he was already letting her stay with him even it was a request to keep an eye on her. Not only that but the Hokage wanted to talk to her at noon and she wanted to find out what he wanted before she asked for anything, she could use one of her star dresses but she was being watched, well that and they are kind of revealing.

Lucy sighed once again as she realised that she hasn't had one shower since she's been here and it's not like Orochimaru was very concerned about her hygiene when she was captured, she wonders how she doesn't smell like Nastu's house yet. Lucy walked into the kitchen to find a note on the table saying that Kakashi had gone to the Hokage office earlier and that she could help herself to the kitchen. Looking towards the clock she was surprised to see that it was 9 o'clock, she had slept later than she thought. Deciding to quickly eat something and then go out to do some training to strengthen her body once again, Orochimaru may have genetically made her stronger but that does nothing about the cardio that she had lost.

Once Lucy has finished and gone outside she saw the Hokage mountain that the Sandaime had pointed out to her once before and decided to run towards that and see where to go from there silently asking Horologium to tell her when she would need to start heading towards the Hokage office.

 **Earlier that morning**

Kakashi woke up early that morning and quickly set out towards the Hokage office before Lucy woke up. Everything about last night was fresh in his mind, how Lucy's body was shaking right beneath his hand, he didn't know exactly what happened but if he had to guess it was that she killed someone unwillingly, he didn't know if she was close to the person or not but it didn't really matter. Especially to someone like Lucy, she just didn't seem mentally built for the ninja life, sure she was capable and seemed determined to fight but she wouldn't if she didn't have to and that's something he was concerned about. During her test he could see that she was holding back, she never engaged in hand to hand combat, she always used weapons and she never aimed for anything fatal, either that or she was just a bad shot.

Lucy always came to check on the people she fought and Yamato had mentioned that the seal she used made sure that blood wouldn't rush to his head and Anko had said that the electric shock didn't hurt her at all and that she mostly screamed out of shock, it felt more like a pinch all over her body but then she couldn't feel anything. Lucy wasn't cruel and she wouldn't cause unnecessary pain. But she is above a Chunin level may be a very low Jonin and Kakashi was worried that if she got ranked up to fast she would be doing missions that would require no hesitation. He knew what it felt like to have so much guilt for taking someone's life and Lucy seemed to care for all life, she didn't look back on her time with Orochimaru with anger or vengeance, just sorrow. Kakashi didn't want Lucy to become a shell of what she is now, at least not so young.

Kakashi was on his way to try and talk to the Hokage, Lord Hokage wants Lucy to be a ninja for the village and he won't take no for an answer, he understands why. They could use her skills and this would mean that she would be able to gain trust faster, therefore, freeing up the ANBU'S that was stationed to watch her so that they could do other things, but there were so many problems with Lucy being a ninja also.

If she was forced then she wouldn't be so inclined to protect the village, nor would she complete missions to the elder's satisfaction, she would do what she believes to be right and that is perfectly fine but if she doesn't believe someone needs to be brought in for questioning she may let them go. Kakashi sighed at his own thoughts and wished to just be reading his book as he continued on to the Hokage tower. Upon reaching the Hokages office he knocked on the door and went in once permission was granted. The Hokage had a surprised look on his face as he saw Kakashi,

"Kakashi you're early, that's something I haven't seen in over a decade," the Hokage chuckled out as he motioned for Kakashi to sit, "although I feel this isn't because you want to be here is it?" Kakashi shook his head no at the question and sat down,

"I am here to discuss your intentions with Lucy's position in the village," Kakashi said professionally, a tone of voice he hadn't used since he left the ANBU a couple years prior,

"Yes, I had a feeling Lucy had something to do with it, what is it exactly that's troubling you?"

"I don't want you to force Lucy to be a ninja of the village," Kakashi stated outright, skipping over every argument that he had prepared. The Hokage for one looked shocked at how blunt his statement was, surely Kakashi knew the reason he wanted Lucy to be a ninja.

Lord Hokage sighed and closed his eyes, taking a puff from the pipe he had up to his mouth, "Why exactly should this be? Young Lucy seems to be quite capable, are you saying you don't think she can handle it or that she can't be trusted?" The Hokage asked opening his eyes to look at Kakashi.

Kakashi cleared his throat before continuing, "I'm just saying that it would be better to have her voluntarily become a shinobi of the village, Lucy doesn't seem like someone that responds well to force and she has her own set of morals. It would be unwise to force our views on her, I'm not saying that she's unfit to fight but she would easily go against orders if she didn't agree with them," Kakashi paused slightly to let his point sink in before continuing,

"when she fought in her test she never aimed for anything fatal nor did she leave for the direction of the tower before knowing that her opponents were safe, she values life too much to be a high ranked shinobi. I don't want her becoming resentful or even losing those values, they are hard to come by especially in someone who's been through what she has," Kakashi finished as he stares the Hokage in the face a little surprised at what came out of his mouth, that's twice in a matter of two days that he's spoken without thinking and each time involved Lucy.

The Hokage sighed and closed his eyes once again in thought, "I will take what you said into consideration, but I will make my final decision when I give her a forehead protector," the Hokage said in a firm tone and Kakashi knew that the discussion was over until Lucy came later that day, "how about we check in on Lucy, make sure she's not causing trouble," Lord Hokage said turning to his crystal ball and adding some chakra into it, Kakashi walked over and peered into the ball that now had an image of Lucy staring up at the Hokage mountain.

 **Back with Lucy**

Currently, Lucy was staring up at the Hokage mountain there were four faces carved into it, all of the Hokage past and present were up there. Lucy noticed something weird though, the current Hokage was the third face and there was one after, she had seen his picture in the Hokage tower. Lucy wondered what happened for the third to reclaim the role of Hokage if the fourth died why not get a fifth person to claim the responsibility. Lucy continued to frown as she looked away and put the thought aside for later.

Lucy walked around to the side of the mountain and started to climb up the side of it, Lucy didn't know her way around the village yet so this seemed to be the best way to train until she did. Axal-Sensei mentioned that climbing was a great way to test your strength, stamina and mental stability. Lucy had never gotten the chance to try it first hand and if she needed to she could use her chakra. By the time Lucy was halfway up her breathing started to become uneven, she tried to ignore it as she continued to make her way up, she was almost at the top when she heard a loud voice call from above her,

"So youthful, seeing young one's training so hard," Lucy almost lost her balance and slid down the mountain before grabbing a small ledge, she looked up to see a man with a bowler haircut, wearing a big smile and giving her a thumbs up. Lucy almost cringed as the sun created a glare off of his teeth but she managed to smile up at him. Lucy finished climbing the rest of the way up before she got a good look at him, he was fairly tall and his posture was balanced, seeing as one of his hands was behind his back and his legs were apart Lucy could tell that he specialised in taijutsu, just as Axal-Sensei had but there was something different about him.

Lucy closed her eyes for a moment and sensed for his chakra, only to notice that it was concentrated into his centre and seemed quite dense, although there wasn't much of it, it seemed to have an irregular flow, she guessed that ninjutsu of any sort was a challenge, if he could do any at all. She opened her eyes again to see him continue to smile down at her, he held out his hand for her to grab and she was sitting on the ground from pulling herself onto the mountaintop. Lucy grabbed his hand and let herself be pulled up by him only to almost go flying off of her feet by the force he used.

"I am Might Guy, handsome Blue Beast of Konoha," he started putting on his hands underneath his chin and sending a wink her way, Lucy would have sweatdropped but she has met weirder people before,

"I'm Lucy, it's nice to meet you," she said with a closed-eyed smile,

"Such a youthful name, are you new to the village?" He asked but still kept his pose,

"Ah yes I am, I am going to the Hokage office later today to hopefully discuss it further," Lucy said trying to find the right words, she didn't know if she was going to be here in Konoha permanently or not and she didn't want to give the wrong idea to anyone, "I should actually start heading over there now," Lucy said as an afterthought, Horologium had reminded her of the time when she started climbing the mountain. If she ran she could make it there in time.

"No need to worry I will take you there," Might Guy said before he scooped Lucy up into his arms and started running down the mountain, Lucy screamed and put her hands over her face, freaking out.

 **Back in the Hokage's office**

Both Kakashi and the Hokage sweatdropped at Guy's actions, only he would pick up a random girl that he just met and run through the town, literally. They watched as Lucy screamed and covered her eyes and waited for them to come through the door of the office. Guy had slammed the door open and skid to a stop with Lucy still in his arms, the poor girl was shaking slightly and Kakashi began to make his way over to them.

"Kakashi my youthful rival," Guy said and he smiled his usual toothy smile, Lucy had lowered her hands from her face slightly at the mention of Kakashi and saw that he was making his way over to her a Might Guy. Once Kakashi was in front of them he gently grabbed Lucy from Guy's arms, settled her down onto the floor and rested a hand on her head,

"Honestly Guy you probably just terrified the poor girl, you don't just do that without permission," Kakashi stated bluntly, his hand still on Lucy's head, "You really don't have any boundaries do you?" He rhetorically asked as he began to lead Lucy over to the Hokage desk leaving a stunned Guy behind him. That was the first time in a long time that Guy had heard Kakashi speak so much in one go. Even during a challenge, he would still be incredibly lazy in conversation, Guy was a little confused at what had just happened. It seemed as if Kakashi knew and even cared for the little girl that he had just met.

"Thank you, Guy, you may go now," the Hokage said once he realised that Guy wasn't moving from his spot, "now Lucy there is something that I wish to discuss with you," Guy heard as he closed the door to the Hokage office.

Lucy was currently sitting in front of the Hokage waiting for him to continue speaking, he seemed to be in deep thought about something. Lucy turned towards Kakashi who was looking at the Hokage expectantly and with a glint of hope in his one uncovered eye and Lucy wondered what was going on. Didn't Lord Hokage want to continue talking about Orochimaru or about her staying in the village? She frowned in thought, we're they going to kick her out? What was going on? Lucy continued to run questions through her head until the Hokage cleared his throat, Lucy looked up at him as he opened a drawer to his desk and motioned for her to come closer. Walking forward Lucy notice Kakashi frown slightly and became worried about what was going on.

"Lucy it has come to my attention that you have high combat and tactic skills. I would like for you to become a ninja of Konoha," Lord Hokage stated as he passed Lucy a Konoha forehead protector. Lucy carefully looked took the forehead protector and looked down at it, frowning slightly. Lucy noticed that he didn't ask her to be a ninja, he made it more of a statement. Lucy sighed in thought, she has already made up her mind about being a ninja, she just didn't like how things were done in this world. She looked back up at the Hokage who was looking at her expectantly and moved to give the headband back to him,

"I'm flattered by your appraisement but I have to decline your offer," her sudden change of vocabulary shocked Kakashi, she was speaking as if this were a business deal, which it kind of was but how was she supposed to know that? She's eight.

The Hokage looked at the headband but made no move to take it, "have you decided to become one for another village?" He pressed for answers, still not taking the headband. Lucy shook her head no,

"I just have no intention of becoming a ninja," the Hokage looked surprised by this claim, she was so skilled, how did she get to be like that if she didn't want to be a ninja?

"Explain something to me then, child, why did you train if you don't want to become a shinobi?" At this question, Lucy placed the headband on his desk since he still hadn't taken it.

"I don't see how being a ninja will help me achieve my goals," Lucy stated omitting that her goal was to travel to another world,

"What are your goals exactly?" He asked becoming frustrated with her, she knew that he wasn't asking her so why refuse?

"My goals are to protect those that matter most to me, I don't see how being a ninja can help me with that," Lucy glares up at the Hokage now and something flashed in her eyes. The Hokage looked at her surprised, while Kakashi looked at her like they were meeting for the first time, "there are some things that a ninja is required to do that I am unwilling to do, I follow what's in my heart and my strength comes from those who fight beside me. Correct me if I'm wrong but that's not how things are done here are they?" Lucy said firmly turning around and started walking towards the door.

"We both know I wasn't asking," the Hokage stated, "If you walk through that door I'm going to have to use force,"

Lucy stopped walking and slowly turned around with her bangs covering her eyes, "tell me something Lord Hokage, why do you fight?" She mumbled and lifted her head to look up at him, this look was different. This look was full of determination and sorrow like she was remembering something. The Hokage looked at her confused at what she asked him so suddenly, wasn't she worried about his threat, "why did you become Hokage?" He heard from her again, "What kind of person do you make yourself out to be?" Lucy continued on, the Hokage continued to stay quiet though not exactly knowing why she was asking. Lucy sighed and looked at the ground, "I ask because these are all reasons I choose not to be a ninja, they are things that make me who I am today. I am not going to throw that all away because you want me too," Lucy then looked towards the window, "and if you are going to use force against me then fine, do what you wish but I'm not going to change my mind," Lucy turned around and made her way towards the door,

"What if we could make some kind of deal?" The Hokage asked and Lucy looked back at him confused, as did Kakashi whom Lucy nearly forgot was in the room.

"What do you mean?" She asked him,

"By becoming a ninja you could stay in this village," the Hokage pointed out,

"Unlike you, I have no ties to this village, therefore I have no reason to stay," Lucy stated and started making her way towards the door once again,

"Then how about protection from Orochimaru, if you go out alone what's stopping him from catching you again?" Lucy paused at this, he did make a good point, it would take months for her to be able to break out of his clutches if at all. Lucy sighed and turned around,

"I will on three conditions, one of them being protected from Orochimaru," Lucy said, the Hokage nodded and motioned her to continue, "I refuse to do assassination missions and I won't kill someone if I don't believe it to be right," Lucy said firmly,

"I can accept that, however, if you are sent on a capture mission for information gathering you must do it despite any reluctance,"

"Very well," Lucy wasn't exactly happy but if they were gathering information then there's a better chance for them to be let go,

"What is your third condition dear?" The Hokage asked,

"Your absolute silence on something," Once those words left Lucy's mouth the Hokage and Kakashi looked at her confused, Lucy was internally freaking out, why did she say that? What was she thinking? But what's done is done and now the only question she has to ask is, how much should she tell them?

The Hokage lead Lucy and Kakashi into a private room that was used for special interrogations, the walls were sound proof in this one. Lucy had requested a more private room after she pointed out that she knew she was being watched. Walking through the hallway Lucy felt Kakashi keep stealing glances at her and Lucy didn't know if she should be on edge or not. Kakashi was a difficult person to read and not just because he covers his face but because he was quiet and seemed to be on guard all of the time, despite how lazy he appears to be. It was counterproductive and Lucy didn't know how to take it, he seemed to understand her all too well and that made her tense. Lucy was usually a very trusting person and while she didn't trust Kakashi, she just didn't know what people should know about her here. Axal-Sensei was the only person Lucy ever really communicated within this world and she knew that he found her strange.

Lucy sighed as they all continued to walk down the hallway and she started thinking about what she would tell them. The Hokage opened the door to an enclosed room that reminded Lucy too much of the places that Orochimaru kept her locked in, taking a deep breath to try and ignore the similarities she sat down at the desk that was in the middle of the room and placed her hands in her lap. The Hokage closed the door behind Kakashi and took a seat across from her. Kakashi stood beside the door waiting for her to start.

"What is it that I need to keep my silence on dear?" The Hokage started gently after seeing how nervous she looked, Lucy took a deep breath and tried to explain in the right terms.

"I have certain abilities, I suppose you could call it a kekkei genkai or secret jutsu, something that I don't want people knowing about," Lucy started and looked up at the Hokage to see him motion in her to continue, "the reason Orochimaru had captured me was because he felt something powerful, that day I had just finished practising a secret technique, this technique uses all of my energy," Lucy started to explain, "ever since then he's been going on about how I have locked up power and that if he unlocks it I would be useful to him but what he doesn't know is that I already know how to fully use those abilities and that I keep it locked up for emergencies," Lucy tried to explain, twisting some details so that it makes sense, "one of those abilities is summoning different beings with different powers that they specialise in to either help me in battle or keep me company," Lucy ran a hand across her guild mark at the mention of her spirits and hoped that they weren't upset about not being able to come out and help her. Lucy knew that Loke was upset, she had forcefully kept them in their world when she was taken by Orochimaru and still continued to keep them there when she got out, she knew they would be angry at her when they did finally get called and she just hoped that they could forgive her.

"Different beings? So you don't mean a summoning animal then?" The Hokage asked and Lucy shook her head,

"No they are very different to a summoning animal, they are actually from a completely different world, they are commonly known as Celestial Spirits and are considered to be immortal," Lucy said and she folded her hands and put them onto the table,

"I see, can you summon one of them to please, for validation?" Lucy swallowed a lump that had formed in her throat, she summoned her keys that were stored in her guild mark and held them in her hand, she ran her fingers over each one and decided to start with Loke, getting him to forgive her would be the hardest out of all of them.

Lucy grabbed his key and stood up she turned around to face the wall behind her and started to enchant the spell, "Open gate of the Lion, Leo," Lucy called and she felt her magic flow into the key and saw a gold magic circle indicating that he was answering to her call. Once Loke appeared she saw that he was facing away from her with his arms crossed over his chest, she also heard Kakashi and the Hokage gasp but decides to ignore that for now. "Loke?" Lucy asked quietly, hesitating before taking a step towards him, he still didn't look at her only stuck his nose in the air, "Loke I'm sorry that I haven't allowed you to come out but you know why I did it, right?" Lucy tried to apologise and explain only to have him stick his nose higher in the air, Lucy sweatdropped and dropped her shoulders slightly before straightening up and trying again, "Loke please, I couldn't let Orochimaru find out about you guys. Imagine what he would have done to you, I couldn't live with myself if the hurt any of you," Lucy's voice kept getting louder and by the end of her explanation she was shouting at him trying to keep her tears in,

"But he did all of that to you," Loke turned around and shouted at her and Lucy could see the tears that were streaming down his face, "for nearly a year I watched as he tortured you, Lucy we all did," Lucy's eyes were wide and she let a few tears fall, "I couldn't do anything, I was stuck inside my gate and I couldn't do anything," Loke sunk down on the floor and continued to let the tears out, "when we made our contract I promised to always protect you," Loke said brokenly. By this time Lucy had made her way to him and wrapped her tiny arms around his head, Loke lifted his head slightly to rest it on her shoulder before wrapping his arms around her small form. Tears were still coming out of both of their them as Lucy whispered to Loke,

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I just wanted to keep you all safe," Loke took a deep breath and pushed Lucy back a little to look at her,

"That's supposed to be our job beautiful," he said and laughed a little at his words, Lucy smiled at him before they heard someone clear their throat. They both jumped slightly and looked over towards the Hokage and Kakashi,

"I kind of forgot they were here," Lucy loudly whispered to Loke who in turn sweatdropped at her words, as did Kakashi and Lord Hokage. Lucy cleared her throat and introduced Loke to them, "this is Loke he is the leader of the Zodiac," at their confused looks she continued quickly, "I'll explain all of that later,"

Loke smiled and waved at them before picking Lucy up and walking over to the table and placed Lucy down on the chair, he stood back up at full length and places a hand on Lucy's head, "It's nice to meet you," the Hokage nodded his head but Kakashi stayed silent, he looked over at Lucy and saw that her face was slightly red from crying and he sighed before walking over to her and pulling out a spare tissue from his pocket. Passing it to her Lucy nodded her head in thanks before wiping her eyes and blowing her nose, she folded the tissue up and smiled at Kakashi before turning her attention towards the Hokage once again to finish their conversation.

"Exactly how many of these summon's do you own?" He asked and Lucy glared at him slightly,

"Firstly I don't own any of them I'm just the holder of their keys, it's a mutual contract between us that binds us together. It's not like other contracts, whereas you sign your name in blood on a scroll we make a verbal contract that is bound by a promise between spirit and contractor," Lucy said firmly, trying to avoid using words like wizard or magic. "Look I'll explain how it all works later but as for your question I have ten, I-I mean nine zodiac keys they are the gold ones, they take up a lot more chakra than the others. I also have five silver keys, they are most skilled at companionship or entertainment," Lucy said holding all of her spirit keys in her hands and looking at them fondly.

"Is there anything else you need to tell me, like other abilities?" The Hokage asked a little overwhelmed at Lucy's ability and even more so at the fact that her summons was essentially immortal.

"Ah well, when I change my outfits mid-battle, I'm really just equipping some of my spirits abilities. I can only do this with the Zodiac gates though. Also, I have two chakra natures, wind and lightning and it appears that I can also use earth style justu's, something I found out during your test. Umm also, genjustu's had no effect on me I can only tell when someone is trying to place one on me, I'm pretty sure that's it," Lucy said quickly and both the Hokage and Kakashi stared at her for a moment, the Hokage sighed and said that he could get more details about all of that later.

"I swear that I will keep my absolute silence on these abilities of yours so long as you only use them to protect the village and uphold your end of the deal," the Hokage said seriously while holding up a Konoha forehead protector. Lucy grabbed it and looked down at it for a moment before tying it around her right wrist, just under her guild mark, she looked up at the Hokage and nodded her head. Loke pat Lucy on the head and she realised that he was still here,

"Lucy can you do something for me," Loke asked looking serious as he knelt down to be face to face with her,

"Sure Loke, what is it?" Lucy asked concerned,

"Could you please, call me big brother?" Loke suddenly asked with a blush on his face and a pervy smile, Lucy's left eye twitched before she kicked Loke in the head shouting,

"I'm not calling you that you pervert!"

Both Kakashi and the Hokage sweatdropped as Loke disappeared in a flash of gold.

Lucy and Kakashi were walking back to his house and Kakashi noticed that Lucy kept staring her forehead protector that was tied around her right wrist and kept giving her questioning glances. Kakashi placed a hand on her head and stopped walking,

"Something wrong?" he asked her quietly,

"It's just, I never wanted to become a ninja and now I've pledged my loyalty to a village by becoming one," Lucy sighed and dropped her head, "I'm not exactly sure how to feel about it,"

"Lucy, being a ninja isn't necessarily a bad thing, you're protecting something important and because you're wearing that forehead protector, this is your home too," Kakashi was now kneeling in front of her to look into her eye,

"I never said that being a ninja was a bad thing, I just never thought I would be one, I honestly don't know how being a ninja is going to not only affect me but those around me. I don't know who I could be hurting or who could hurt me and my friends, from my perspective being a ninja just creates more problems," at this Lucy looked down and clenched her right wrist to her chest, "I've seen so many people get hurt, I've caused some of that hurt, I don't want to see it anymore." Lucy cried out as she clenched her eyes closed as she had flashbacks from the war between Alveraz and Fiore.

Kakashi was at a loss at what to do, he didn't have any experience comforting well, anybody. Lucy seemed to have gone through too much for a little girl to handle and he didn't know how to help her through it. Kakashi looked down at the small girl that looked like she was about to cry before he took a hold of her shoulders and teleported into his house, he sat her down on the lounge in the sitting room before he told her something about his past.

"Being a ninja can cause a lot of problems and pain, any shinobi could tell you that. Some people can't handle the pressure that it puts you under, my father couldn't, he ended up taking his own life," Kakashi paused at this as Lucy looked up at him, "I was six at the time, he was on a retrieval mission for a scroll but him and his team were ambushed. The only way to save his teammates was to abandon the mission, when people heard about it he received a lot of ridicule. Even by his teammates that he saved, eventually, it became too much for him and he took his own life," Kakashi wasn't looking at Lucy as he said this, Lucy looked down and reached out to hug one of his arms, Lucy didn't look up at his face as she told him about her parents.

"My mother died a while ago, she was doing some kind of ritual that included those gold keys I showed you, there are twelve in total but at the time she only had eleven. She gave her life in place of the twelfth key, ever since then my father has blamed her abilities and eventually started to neglect me, in my childhood home I was always alone and I always asked myself why I wasn't enough for my father, I guess you must have asked that question yourself huh?" Lucy still wasn't looking at him but her grip on his arm tightened slightly, she felt a hand on her head but still didn't look up just leaned her head on his arm.

That sat that way for a while until they heard Lucy's stomach grumble, Lucy blushed and looked down at her stomach slightly glaring at it for making so much noise. Kakashi chuckled slightly before removing his hand from her head and standing up, walking in the direction of the kitchen, "how would you like some lunch, Kakashi style?" he asked and she looked at him confused before following him into the kitchen.

 **Time Skip**

Kakashi was finally showing around Lucy the rest of the village when she heard voices coming from an alleyway and decided to follow them, looking into the alley she saw four boys that looked to be about ten years old kicking a small blonde boy. He was curled up on the ground and covering his head as they continued to kick him.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Lucy yelled out and marched towards them, the older boys looked at her and laughed,

"Beat it, kid, this doesn't concern you," the apparent ringleader said pointing his thumb in the direction of the alleyways exit, before turning back towards the boy lying on the ground and went to kick him again but before he could Lucy appeared before him and grabbed his leg,

"I asked you a question," Lucy growled out before she uses her hold on the boy's leg to throw him into the trash cans behind him.

"Who do you think you are, kid?" a boy on the left said, he had dirty blonde hair and was wearing a red hoodie, he ran towards Lucy and tried to throw a punch at her but she grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards her slightly. Lucy grabbed his elbow with her other hand and used it to flip him over and onto his back, she looked towards the last boy who was helping up the first one and he looked at her scared.

"Get lost," Lucy said to him but he still didn't move, "I said get lost," she yelled and kicked the wall behind him, startled he jumped up and ran towards the alleyway exit with his friends behind him.

Lucy looked back at the blonde boy on the ground and saw that he was looking at her in awe, with his left cheek swollen and blood coming out of his nose Lucy bent down and used a tissue that she kept in her pocket to wipe off the blood from his nose. "I'm Lucy it's nice to meet you," Lucy said and smiled a closed-eyed smile at him, she saw his eyes widen slightly before he answered,

"I-I'm Naruto Uzumaki, believe it," he said loudly and grabbed the hand that Lucy offered to him to help him up,

"Lucy where are you?" Lucy and Naruto turned towards the exit of the alleyway,

"I should get back, it was nice meeting you Naruto, hopefully, next time it'll be under better circumstances," Lucy called out behind her as she ran towards Kakashi's voice, she rounded the corner and crashed into a pair of legs, her face hitting the person's stomach.

"There you are Lucy, where did you go?" Kakashi asked as he held her shoulders so she wouldn't fall backwards,

"I heard something so I went to check it out," Lucy explained rubbing her nose as it was what hit Kakashi's stomach.

"What was it?"

"Just a cute puppy in the alleyway over there," Lucy replied pointing over to the alleyway that Naruto was currently hiding in, waiting for her to leave.

"Alright well come on we need to get you some clothes," Kakashi said and he started directing her towards the marketplace down the street.

At the marketplace, Lucy picked out ninja and training outfits, (main outfit above) with fingerless gloves. Lucy had a hard time deciding whether or not to actually get the gloves, not wanting to cover her guild mark bit not wanting to draw attention to it either, she decided to only wear them on missions.

"We also need to get you some ninja tools, like kunai and shuriken," Kakashi said once Lucy had finished picking out her clothes.

"Oh, that reminds me, Kakashi did you know that you're using the wrong size kunai?" Lucy asked as they started making their way over to the weapons shop,

"How would you know that?"

"Well during the test you placed your hand on the back of my head and I got an estimate of your hand size and you threw a kunai past me while I was running. That kunai would have been the right measurements for someone like Yamato but it would have been unbalanced in yours which was probably why it missed me,"

"Uhh, care to elaborate?"

"Sure, I noticed that you don't use your thumb for balance when throwing kunai but your pointer and middle finger, this means that your handle is slightly heavier than it should be, while Yamato uses his thumb and pointer finger. Also, the blade needs to be more refined for you as to add speed, which I'm guessing that's what you're going for considering your fighting style and the way you stand," Lucy finished explaining and Kakashi was once again shocked at how much this girl noticed,

"What do you mean by the way I stand?" he asked timidly as he had never noticed this before,

"Like you I also prioritise my speed, I've learnt to stand with my legs almost shoulder length apart with one foot slightly in form of the other, this allows me to push off at any moment and also change directions, I noticed you doing it when we first met in the Hokage office," as the words left Lucy's mouth Kakashi's amazement grew,

"How do you know all of this?"

"I was a blacksmiths apprentice for a while, you pick stuff up," Lucy replied as they came upon the weapons shop, she walked up to the counter and handed the old man a piece of paper that had her measurements for shuriken and kunai and asked for twenty of each, all the while Kakashi looked around for a kunai with the details that Lucy mentioned.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy has been in Konoha for almost a month now and she hasn't run into Naruto since their first meeting, Lucy was currently climbing up the side of the Hokage mountain once again but this time with weights on both her feet and arms. It has become a daily routine for her to do after she trains.

Lord Third has told her that even though she's at a high Chunin level that she will still start off as a Genin, which Lucy has no problems with this meant that she could help out around the village instead of going on missions. Lucy didn't have a team yet either, which is another reason why she's not doing missions.

During this time the relationship between her and Kakashi has remained the same, they didn't get any closer to the other and really only spoke if it was about her training. They didn't really feel the need to tell each other things like they did after Lucy got her forehead protector. Kakashi was getting busier anyways since he failed the Genin team not too long ago he's now free for missions and the Hokage has him running about but this also means that Lucy got to spend time with Anko.

They have really grown closer during this past month and Anko helps Lucy with her training, while Lucy was still working with sealing techniques she was also trying to better her ninjutsu and taijutsu. Anko helped her with her chakra control so that she could perform ninjutsu better and Gai helped her with her taijutsu, after Lucy met him on the Hokage mountain again she asked him to help her and he agreed because he doesn't have a Genin team yet either.

"Finished your warm-up Lucy?" Lucy heard from above her as she got to the top of the Hokage mountain,

"Yes Gai-Sensei," she replied and got into her taijutsu position, she waited for Gai to make the first move, she's learned that in a one on one battle she has to wait for them to make the first move, or else she loses her advantage. Because Gai is so energetic he can only wait so long before he starts. Lucy blocked all of his attacks before she got comfortable enough to evade them and eventually give out her own, Gai's style of taijutsu is very different to what she's previously learnt. Gai, while he may be reckless sometimes, his taijutsu was more elegant and refined, while Lucy studied a wilder style of taijutsu.

Lucy quickly noticed that at the level she is currently on she wasn't going to be able to win using her techniques not unless she added chakra to her attacks and that was too risky. Lucy quickly jumped back to create distance and studied Gai's stance more closely. His body was perfectly balanced and sturdy, he was properly trained in strength and speed, the only advantage that Lucy could have would be how unpredictable she could be and yet with his training, Gai could easily adjust.

Gai came at her once again and this time Lucy started mimicking his movements, it was difficult moving her body in a completely different way but she found how effective his technique was when it came to strength, she was more balanced and didn't slide back as far when she got pushed. Gai was surprised at how quickly she seemed to be picking up his movements, she has never attempted to use his taijutsu style before, he didn't feel the need to change her style, it was already efficient for what she wanted to achieve and already hard enough to counter.

After Lucy got the hang of moving her body this way she started adding her original fighting style to her movements, doing this means that she can make quick adjustments mid-battle. Alternating between strength and speed, changing between elegant and wild, Lucy ended up giving Gai a hard time, even though she didn't win Lucy did better than what she normally did.

Lucy was walking around the town looking for a place to eat when she heard a familiar voice coming from a ramen stand. Walking under the curtain she saw a familiar blonde boy slurping up ramen with a pile of bowls next to him. "Hey I know you, you're Naruto Uzumaki, right? We met a month ago," Lucy exclaimed as she pulled herself up onto a stool beside him, Naruto choked on his mouthful of food before looking at Lucy.

"Hey, there little lady what can I get you?" The old man whom Lucy assumes to run the stand asked her,

"Can I get one regular ramen please," she said before turning back to Naruto, "do you remember me? I'm Lucy in case you forgot," she smiled widely at him before snapping her chopsticks apart and eating the ramen that just got placed in front of her.

"I remember," Naruto whispered before finishing his bowel, "you're the pretty girl that saved me that time," Lucy blushed as she heard the old man at the stand laugh at Naruto's explanation. Swallowing her mouthful of ramen she laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head, a habit that she's picked up from Kakashi.

"How are you feeling by the way? Your nose looks a lot better,"

"It's fine I'm used to it you know," Lucy frowned at that,

"Used to it, what do you mean?"

"It happens all of the time, I'm not completely sure why" Naruto looked down sadly at this, "they call me a demon and throw me out of stores," Naruto clenched his fist and swallowed loudly, he closed his eyes tightly hoping that he didn't make a mistake in telling her this. Naruto wanted a friend, he wanted someone to play pranks with him and to cheer him up when he's sad, he wanted someone to eat lunch with him and take care of him while he's sick. Sure he had Iruka sensei but they only recently began to grow close.

"I see," Lucy whispered and put her head down, so his situation is similar to Mira's but what I don't fully understand was why they treat him that way. Naruto looked harmless, he couldn't even defend himself against three older boys how much trouble could he really be? Are they blaming him for something his relatives did maybe? Lucy frowned and quickly finished her ramen and stood up, she notices Naruto tense when she did and she smiled sadly.

Lucy put her hand on Naruto's shoulder, he flinched lightly, "Naruto, come with me for a minute, I want to tell you a story," she said gently reaching towards his hand and tugging him slightly and leaving enough money on the counter to cover both of the meals. Naruto frowned but followed Lucy, leaving his hand in hers as they walked.

 **In the Hokage office**

Gai was currently in the Hokage office with most of the Jonin's as well as the new addition Kurenai, they were all surrounding the Hokages crystal ball and observing Lucy.

"So Gai, Anko how is her training going?" Lord Hokage asked Anko and Gai looked at each other before Anko decided to go first,

"Lucy is quite exceptional, she might as well be considered a prodigy," Anko started and the Hokage waited for her to continue, "but she pulls her punches and doesn't add much force to her attacks, I'm worried about sending her out into the field," Gai nodded before continuing on after Anko,

"I've noticed how much Lucy holds back in hand to hand combat, it's not that she doesn't work hard or improve but she's not fighting to the best of her ability and I'm wondering if something had happened in the past that is holding her back," at this Kakashi tensed slightly and the Hokage took notice of it, Anko looked worried as she looked at Lucy, she feels a real connection with this girl and she knows how kind-hearted Lucy is, that kind of thinking could get her killed one day and she's scared to let her go out on her own.

"Perhaps it's because she knows she's not in any real danger or because she doesn't see you as actual enemies, Lucy seems to need to be in a dangerous situation to really show off her skills but I'm afraid that we can't create such an atmosphere in the village. It's too risky because we don't know her limits, that test that she did only really show her abilities," the Hokage thought out loud and the Jonin's, three, in particular, didn't like where he was going with this, "unfortunately she's immune to genjutsu as well, maybe I should give her a mission to do outside of the village," the Jonin's started to protest at this before the Hokage raised his hand to silence them, "with one of you of course," the Jonin's started to settle down once again and waited for him to continue.

"I suppose an A-rank mission should suffice if one of you go with her but she'll need to be in a situation where she has to sort it out by herself," the Hokage said firmly turning around and started doing his paperwork once again, "it will be decided which mission and who she'll be going within three days," the Jonin's took that as a dismissal and started making their way through the door.

 **With Lucy and Naruto**

Lucy leads Naruto towards one of the training grounds and sat on a log near the river and pat the spit next to her when she noticed that he didn't move to follow her. Once Naruto was seated she started telling him about Mira but made it out to be a fictional story,

"Once upon a time in a world where magic existed there was a girl who had the ability to absorb demons and use their powers," Lucy started and Naruto looked at her confused but stayed quiet and let her continue not wanting to go home to an empty house, "when she was young she didn't fully know how to control it or even that she had this ability, to begin with, and one day there was trouble in her towns church. She was the only one brave enough to go fight the demon that had invaded it, she accidentally absorbed the demon and gained the ability to use its powers. Because she didn't know how to control it her arm had transformed into what the demon's arm had looked like and the town was convinced that she was cursed and had turned into the demon," Naruto took a deep breath in and Lucy paused slightly before she continued,

"They ended up running her and her two younger siblings out of town and they travelled to a place called Magnolia where a wizard guild was. A guild is a place for people with magic to go and find work that suits their abilities, it was there that she found out that her ability is called take over magic. Even though she knew this she still couldn't control her power and her arm was still transformed, she didn't feel like she fit in with the rest of the guild while her younger siblings had started opening up to them and she was going to leave. But her siblings had started learning take over magic too, her sister learnt animal take over while her brother learnt beast take over, it was then that she knew that she didn't need to be ashamed of her abilities and that while she was technically part demon that it wasn't a bad thing, from then on she used her abilities to protect her siblings and her guild," Lucy finished her story and Naruto was still staring at her confused,

"Do you understand what this story was about Naruto?" Lucy asked quietly and sighed in exasperation when he shook his head, no, "what I'm trying to say is that the reason why the villagers ran the girl out of town was because they were scared of her because they didn't know of her abilities, even though she was the only one to go and help. Naruto, the people in this village are also scared, of what I don't know but they are scared all the same and it makes them act out in anger to try and cover their fear. You just need to show them that they have nothing to be afraid of and that you're a part of the village too just like they are," Lucy said brightly and looked at him with a smile, "and I'm going to be there to help you,"

Naruto's eyes widened at her exclamation and his eyes followed her as she stood up, Lucy turned around to face him and held out her hand, "I look forward to getting to know you Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto's eyes watered slightly before he blinked them away and grabbed Lucy's outstretched hand,

"Me too, believe it," he yelled out and smiled, the first real smile that Lucy had ever seen on him and on she hoped to be able to keep on his face.


	8. Chapter 8

During the next three days Lucy had been spending all of her free time with Naruto, she even helped him paint a couple of stores that rudely threw him out. Lucy had also asked Kakashi about why the villagers treat Naruto the way they do but he just said that it was classified so Lucy ended up doing some self-investigating.

 **Flashback**

Kakashi had just gone to bed and Lucy quietly snuck out of the window and asked Gemini to take her place, to throw off the ANBU that were still monitoring her before she headed towards the Hokage office from the rooftops. If the information was classified then there had to be documented on it, right? Lucy surprised her chakra enough to make it seem like a mouse was running through the building before she made it to the Hokage tower, this would explain any noises that she may make during her investigation. Landing on top of the roof Lucy put on her cloak and pulled her hood over her head, (cloak looks like the one future Lucy wore) opened up the window and quietly snuck in. Running towards where she knew the filing cabinets were, she quickly got to work. Naruto looked to be younger than 12 but older than her current age so that narrowed it down to between nine and eleven years ago.

Lucy knew that they would have a file on Naruto from birth because he's been a part of this village his whole life. Looking towards the filing cabinets that were marked by year Lucy noticed how many there were just in those three years, she made two other clones and had each one look in files for that year. She needed to get back before Kakashi found out she was missing, or worse if the ANBU found out. Lucy shuddered at the thought and quickly got to work but no matter how hard or long she looked, she could not find anything.

"You won't find what you're searching for in there," Lucy heard from the door she walked through to get in.

"Sandaime," Lucy whispered and widened her eyes, worried about what was going to happen to her but her fear turned into surprise when he threw her a file, while her clones put everything away she read through what the Hokage gave her.

"So he really is a jinjuriki," she whispered, Lucy frowned and looked up at the Hokage, "when he told me about how the village treats him I wasn't sure," Lucy looked back down at the file and spotted Naruto's birthday and decided to remember that for later. "Why are you letting me read this?" Lucy asked the Hokage,

"Because I knew that you wouldn't abandon Naruto for this reason, in fact, you might be able to help him, guide him if you will. You may not have noticed Lucy but you are quite mature for your age and have a sense of hope in your eyes that I've never seen in anyone before. I truly believe that you hold the 'will of fire', something that the first Hokage wanted all shinobi of this village to have," the Hokage looked at Lucy as he said this and Lucy looked confused,

"Will of fire?" Lucy whispered the Hokage chuckled,

"You'll know what it is when the time is right," the Hokage turned around to leave but before he did he called out over his shoulder, "I've called off the ANBU that were sent to watch you, you are now an official citizen of Konoha, I hope that I don't regret that decision,"

Lucy smiled before she followed out after him and attempted to get home before Kakashi woke up but unfortunately luck wasn't on her side, the next morning she spent hours listening to him lecture her about going out after curfew and even more about sneaking into the Hokage office.

 **Flashback end**

Lucy sighed at the memory of what happened not even two days beforehand. Lucy also noticed that Kakashi has been acting weird the last few days, whenever they talked about her training he would want it all in detail, he even went as far to offer to train her in lightning ninjutsu. Lucy agreed of course, why wouldn't she? But that didn't mean she was any less suspicious of his actions, he was usually disinterested and only made conversation to be polite. Lucy shrugged off the thought and decided that she would just ask him later before she looked up to see the Hokages hawk flying over her head, summoning her to his office. Lucy made it to the Hokage office and jumped in through the window,

"You summoned me, Lord Hokage?"

"Yes, I want you to go on a mission with Anko it'll last a few days at the least, she'll give you the details on the way, meet her at the gates in one hour," the Hokage stated firmly not looking at her but at Kakashi who was looking sternly at the Hokage clearly unhappy about something.

"I'll go and pack then," Lucy said and slowly turned to leave out the window but stopped when she heard Kakashi talk,

"I'll go with you," Kakashi walked over to her and pulled her into the room and took a hold of her hand, he walked out of the Hokages office and slammed the door shut behind the both of them. Kakashi still had a hold of Lucy's hand as they continued to walk down the hallway towards the seemingly endless staircase,

"Is there something wrong Kakashi?" Lucy asked and Kakashi looked down at her surprised before going back to looking bored once again,

"No everything's fine," he said and looked back towards the front,

"Are you sure because you seem frustrated?"

"I'm fine Lucy, don't worry," Lucy frowned at this but left it alone, if he wanted to tell her he would but this just added to her curiosity about his behaviour lately, she decided to leave it until she came back from her mission with Anko though.

Climbing up the steps of Kakashi's front porch Lucy opened the door and took off her shoes before running upstairs towards her room, gathering her things and asking Virgo to store then in the Spirit world for her, Lucy also grabbed her fingerless gloves and put one on her right hand to cover her guild mark and a pouch full of kunai and shuriken on her right hip. Lucy then attached her belt and pouch that her celestial keys used to reside into her left hip and filled it with exploding tags and sealing techniques that she's learnt. Lucy grabbed the black cloak that she used to sneak into the Hokage's office before going into the lounge area to grab a book on some ninjutsu to read if she got the chance but all she saw was Kakashi pacing.

"Alright that's it, I was going to leave it until I got back but something is obviously wrong with you so spill it," Lucy stated loudly while putting her hands on her hips and leaning forward. Kakashi spun around at the sound of her voice and Lucy could clearly see the worry in his eyes before he tried to mask it with boredom, "this isn't about me going on a mission is it?" Lucy asked boredly,

"What worries me is that it's an A-rank mission, I don't think you should be doing a high ranking mission for the first one," Kakashi stated,

"I've been in dangerous situations before, besides Anko is going to be there as well, you know," Lucy looked at him frustrated, she knows that he doesn't know exactly how much danger she's actually been in before but it's still frustrating to be treated like a child. At least the Hokage recognises that she's more mature,

"You've never been on a mission before Lucy, I know you've trained and have a lot of skills but it's still dangerous, especially for a little girl," Kakashi's voice was getting louder but he wasn't yelling,

"Why exactly is it more dangerous because I'm a girl?" Lucy asked trying to stay calm but her voice raised to match his, Kakashi sighed,

"I didn't mean it like that, I just meant that this makes you more of a target," Kakashi knelt down to her level, "Lucy you don't know how quickly a mission can change, people lie and may make a job seem easier than what it really is. I just want you to be careful,"

"I know alright, like I said I've been in dangerous situations before, this is nothing new, you honestly don't have to worry so much, besides don't you think if the Hokage had concerns about the mission he would say something. I doubt he would send me out on a mission without all of the information and Anko is going to be the one to give me a full explanation as well," Lucy notice Kakashi stiffen up slightly throughout her reasoning and was going to ask about it before he cut her off,

"Alright come on, Anko is probably already at the gate, she tends to be early," Kakashi started pushing Lucy out the door and towards the gate hoping she didn't notice how nervous he really was. Lucy trusted too easily, even though she was so reluctant in the beginning to tell the Hokage anything she has now put her trust in him to keep her as safe as he can while on missions. Kakashi didn't want to ruin the progress that has been made by her finding out why she's really going on this mission.

Once they arrived at the gate Lucy notice Anko already there, Lucy waved happily and was about to go over to her when Kakashi stopped her, "You haven't forgotten anything have you?"

"No I have everything I need, I asked Virgo to store it away for me," Lucy said the last part in a whisper to him but noticed that he still looked unsettled by something, it couldn't just be the mission, "Kakashi, is there something you're not telling me, about the mission I mean?" Kakashi looked at Lucy slightly shocked before lowering his gaze, not being able to look into her eyes, so my suspicions were right, the Hokage is sending me out specifically but for what reason and why is that reason worrying Kakashi so much? Lucy thought to herself.

Lucy sighed, it didn't look like Kakashi was going to say anything any time soon, probably because it was an order. "I'm sure whatever it is that you're not telling me won't get me killed Kakashi, don't beat yourself up so much okay. I'll see you in a few days," at this Lucy turned around and walked towards one of her teachers, missing the stern look that Kakashi gave to Anko. Anko slightly nodded at Kakashi and motioned for Lucy to follow her, once Lucy and Anko were out of sight Kakashi started walking back towards the Hokage office planning to try and negotiate once again about letting him follow Lucy and Anko.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Anko, it was just that she could get sidetracked very easily. Kakashi wasn't sure why he was so adamant about Lucy's safety but he feels like she can see right through him, she can tell when he's upset or wants to be alone, she can tell when he wants to talk to someone or when he's just being polite. Kakashi didn't know how she did it but she did and he felt he knew her also, he knew that Lucy still had nightmares and can hear her wake up in the night so he stands outside her door waiting for her to either go onto the roof or go back to sleep. If Lucy went out onto the roof he would follow her so, he could bring her back in once she finally did go to sleep and if she went straight to bed he knew that it was okay for him to go to sleep.

These little things are what make them somewhat close, they don't really talk to one another but they notice things about each other that others don't, it made Kakashi protective of Lucy in a way. Kakashi shook himself of his own thoughts as he made it to the Hokage tower, jumping up onto the window he was just about to go in when he heard Gai's voice from inside,

"I'm sorry for saying this Lord Hokage but why didn't you send Kakashi out on the mission with Lucy, surely he is more qualified than Anko to watch over her. He was in the ANBU after all,"

"While that may be true, I think you have noticed just how attached Kakashi has become to Lucy, I don't think that him being there would let us see her true potential," Kakashi heard the Hokage sigh deeply, "and I don't want to be there when Kakashi finds out that the mission involves Orochimaru," Kakashi froze at those words and could hear the Hokage say something else but didn't register what it was. Kakashi quickly jumped down from the window silently and ran towards the village gates and followed the direction that Anko and Lucy went.

Lucy and Anko ran side by side towards their mission location, Anko explaining as they went,

"Our mission is to collect intel on a drug lord near the tea country. Apparently, there has been underground trafficking, the tea country sent us this request to avoid conflict between neighbouring towns," Anko stressed but left out the part where the underground trafficking could be related to Orochimaru, "we are not to attack unless necessary, this is just intel,"

"What about if they have people captive?" Lucy asked but had a bad feeling of what she was going to hear,

"Not this time, we need to figure out the purpose of which they are doing this, we can come back for anyone else later," Anko said firmly leaving no room for argument but when has that ever stopped Lucy?

"I'm not going to sit back and do nothing Anko, people's lives could be at risk here. Does their purpose really matter more than the safety of others?" Lucy growled out,

"These are orders, Lucy, we cannot disobey the Hokage, we are not abandoning the people, we are simply waiting to rescue them," Lucy stopped running and Anko turned around to face her,

"We cannot afford to wait; those people may not have enough time left for us to gather information. Saving those people should take a priority, people shouldn't be left as an afterthought," Lucy yelled out giving their location away to possible enemies.

"This is not up for debate Lucy, you will follow my orders as the leader of this mission or I will have to report you in for treason," Anko growled out while she didn't want Lucy to be put in prison and maybe even TI, Lucy needed to learn to obey orders. Anko hoped that she would follow Anko's lead because it is her first mission but apparently not.

Lucy, on the other hand, grew more opposed to the ninja way, they were just like the magic council. They look out for themselves first, everyone else is an afterthought, FairyTail never turned their back on someone in need and Lucy wasn't about to start now but if she went along with Anko's plan and didn't tell her about it she could put Anko in danger. Lucy took a deep breath and looked Anko straight in the eye angrily,

"I will never turn my back on someone that needs me, I don't care if I'm disobeying orders or if I get thrown in prison for treason because I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I let someone die or get hurt while there is something I can do about it and if you still want to report me in then I will go with no fuss after this mission," Lucy said firmly and out a hand to her head, she felt dizzy all of a sudden. Anko fell to the ground and Lucy straight after,

"Ahh, you always were stubborn weren't you Lucy?" Anko and Lucy heard from above them, they both looked up and Lucy's eyes widened,

"Axal-Sensei?" Lucy whispered before she fell unconscious.

 **With Kakashi**

Kakashi was running in the direction that Lucy and Anko were but skidded to a stop when he spotted Anko passed out and tied to a tree. Running over to her he started untying her and tried to wake her up,

"Anko, wake up, what happened?" Anko groaned as she opened her eyes only to jolt awake and started looking around, "Anko where's Lucy?" Kakashi continued talking, Anko turned towards Kakashi but looked conflicted,

"Not here," she said firmly not sure what to make of the information that she had learned before she passed out,

"What do you mean not here? Where is she? Who took her?" Kakashi yelled out in panic,

"There was a type of gas in the air that we couldn't see, it put us to sleep but before we passed out we were arguing about the mission and heard someone speak from above us. They knew Lucy, she called him sensei before I passed out," Anko explained as she stood up off of the ground,

"We have to look for her," Kakashi stated and was about to bite his thumb when Anko started speaking,

"Lucy knew him Kakashi, she probably went with him willingly, what if she is working for Orochimaru," Anko tried to reason with him, her doubts about Lucy's intentions with the village coming into light. Kakashi turned to her with a glare,

"Lucy's not like that, she wouldn't do that," he yelled,

"How would you know, you don't even know anything about her, you guys barely talk to one another," Anko growled out,

"I know her more than you do, I know that she has nightmares about what happened while she was with Orochimaru, I know her favourite foods, her weird habits, she even told me about her parents," Kakashi stopped to take a deep breath and saw that Anko was looking at him in shock about how much he actually paid attention to Lucy. "I've seen her at her most vulnerable Anko, I do know Lucy and I know that she would never lie about her intentions towards the village," Kakashi then bit his thumb and swiped it across the ground, "Summoning Jutsu," Kakashi's ninja pack appeared in front of him and instructed them to find a trace of Lucy.

"Anko I want you to go back to the village and send Gai as back up, I don't trust the Hokage with Lucy's safety right now," Kakashi demanded before Pa-Kun came back with Lucy's scent,

"I'll come with you," Anko said firmly,

"I don't trust you with Lucy's safety right now either," Anko looked hurt at that remark but Kakashi either didn't notice or didn't care as he turned to follow Pakkun,

"I'll give you and Gai until tomorrow evening to come back with Lucy, if you don't I'm informing the Hokage," Anko replied before she jumped away.

Kakashi was running after Pakkun trying to clear his mind, he was panicking too much and if he couldn't think straight he could get Lucy and himself killed. Kakashi came to a stop outside of an old mental asylum, it was only a single story and it was all broken down. Kakashi asked Pakkun to scout the perimeter and report back the stealthiest entrance and tell him how many exits there are.

"The stealthiest way in would be through the skylight in the ceiling and there are six exits if you count the open windows that I found, otherwise there are three doors and what looks to be a basement entrance out the back," Pakkun said, "summon me again when you get her to safety," he whispered before poofing back to where he was before.

Kakashi walked around the side of the building careful to stay away from the windows and tried to find the basement entrance, once he found it he made sure that it was unlocked before jumping onto the roof and locating the skylight. He opened the hatch and tried to make as little sound as possible before climbing in and standing on the ceiling, using the ceiling to make his way through the building he tried locating Lucy's chakra but found that there was so little chakra in the building, it was like no living thing was anywhere for miles. Running a hand through his hair frustrated, he will just have to look through every room and hoped he didn't get caught.

 **With Lucy**

Lucy was glaring at the man in front of her, the one she used to call her sensei.

"Where am I and what did you do to Anko?" Lucy yelled out tugging on her chains and held her up to the wall, her feet not touching the ground. Lucy heard Axal chuckle and tried not to scream in frustration,

"Hate to say it but I've missed you Ankle biter," he chuckled out,

"Don't call me that," Lucy yelled out, "do not act so familiar with me, I'd know this aura anywhere, it's all over this place. You're really working for Orochimaru aren't you?" Lucy yelled out still struggling within her chains, desperate to get out of the things that she spent eleven months in.

Lucy heard Axal sigh and knew that that was him confirming her suspicions, "why did you accept me as your apprentice then? Why were you even looking for one in the first place?" Lucy all but whimpered hoping that her suspicion was wrong,

"I accepted you as my apprentice and started training you when I saw that you had potential, that was my job. I gather information for Orochimaru about what's happening in the world, when I saw how you picked up on things and knew how to use a couple of weapons I knew that you would be useful to Orochimaru but the longer time I spent with you I knew that you wouldn't help him willingly so we staged my death and your capture," Axal explained and Lucy felt her eyes water. All that time she was training, learning and growing stronger, only to learn that it was all for his sake. All for Orochimaru.

Lucy looked down at the ground and started to shake, she felt like she couldn't breathe. Orochimaru knew about her the entire time, every time someone ordered weapons that needed to be done in a seemingly impossible timeframe it was him. Everything that she was doing, was being reported back to him, her skills in taijutsu, her chakra natures, everything that she was attempting to learn. Orochimaru knows it all, he knew when she was holding back in the pit, he knew the strength that she was hiding from him. Lucy couldn't hold back the tears as they started spilling over but she didn't make a sound.

Lucy couldn't register that Axal was still talking to her, she didn't even realise that he had left. She just felt lost, still struggling to breathe, she just let the tears fall onto the cold cement floor and just hung by her chains with her head down.

Lucy stared at the ground, her tears long since dried on her face. Lucy's face was blank though, no longer was their anguish upon it; there was only a blank stare that showed how tired she really was and her mental age had started to show. Lucy felt like all of her energy has been sucked out of her, Lucy closed her eyes, her arms numb from the pain of hanging on the wall and fell asleep.

Hours later Lucy woke up from landing on the floor with a bang and looked up to see Axal hovering above her, he grabbed her by the chains that were still attached to her wrists and started dragging her down an old ladder. She must've been in the attic.

 **With Kakashi**

Kakashi continued to look throughout the building but couldn't see or sense any other living thing, it was like the building itself was an illusion but that couldn't be because Kakashi had his Sharingan out to look through the rooms. Kakashi turned his head as he heard something crash from in the attic and decided to look there but before he could he saw a big burly man with grey hairs and stubble on his chin come down the attic ladder pulling on chains from behind him.

Once the man got down the ladder Kakashi looked at what was attached to the chains and froze when he saw that it was Lucy, he clothes were torn and she had bruised all over her. Once he saw her face he almost blew his cover and run over to her, her face was blank, like she had no more fight left in her. Lucy was always so lively, even if it looked like she didn't feel like smiling she did it anyway. It was then that Kakashi heard the man speak,

"Look kiddo, I know you think that I'm this terrible person that betrayed you but you wouldn't have gotten as powerful as you have without being in Orochimaru's care. I did it for you, Lucy, didn't you want power?" Kakashi looked shocked at what he was hearing, Lucy wanted power? That doesn't sound anything like her, is this the person that Anko said that Lucy called sensei? Kakashi shook himself from his thoughts when he heard Lucy reply,

"You say that you took me in and gave me to Orochimaru for my sake?" Lucy asked and raised her head to look at her past teacher, her face was still blank.

"Of course, ya ankle biter, I had taught you all that I could there was nothing left for you with me. When I mentioned your talents to Orochimaru he said that he could make you stronger so we devised that plan to hand you over to him because like I said, I knew you wouldn't go willingly,"

"I see," Lucy replied and looked back down, "tell me what is it exactly that Orochimaru wants to achieve,"

"To learn every ninjutsu possibly known,"

"I suppose that includes kekkei Genkai's as well then?"

"I would assume so,"

Lucy took a deep breath and tried to regain her footing to follow Axal instead of just being dragged behind him. "Why am I so important to him? It can't just be talent or skill; anyone can have that." Lucy stated but Axal just kept quiet and continued to drag her neither of them realising that they were being followed.

"If I didn't join willingly then what makes you think now will be any different?" Lucy questioned as they came upon a metal door,

"You'll soon see," was all he said before he opened the door and she walked I'm to see a type of conference room, there were doors all around them. One behind the head of the table and four on each side wall but it was empty,

"How is this supposed to change my mind?" Lucy asked her face was pale and was still indifferent throughout all of this. Neither noticed Kakashi as he snuck in and hid in the shadows.

"Because I'm going to explain everything to you,"

"Nothing you say will make me change my mind, do you really think that I would join you after you practically served me up to Orochimaru on a silver platter? And what makes you think that I would leave the village that I have joined, I have sworn to protect it and the people in it," Lucy said firmly her eyes gaining back some of their usual flares.

"For starters, you got away only because Orochimaru let you, did you really think that he sent people that you could defeat to bring you back?" Axal stated smugly and was just about to continue before Lucy spoke,

"I always knew that Orochimaru intended for me to get away, I never knew why only that I wouldn't like it and I played along because he dragged others into it. That two ninjas that got me out, I needed to protect them even if I knew that it could have been a trap,"

"Aha, that's so like you, so selfless. You just run straight into things and never think about your own safety, I don't know if it's amazing or stupid," Axal growled out, getting frustrated with Lucy, "besides I know something that may make you change your view on that village," Lucy frowned at that and from the corner Kakashi tensed,

"W-what do you mean?" Lucy stuttered out not sure whether she should believe anything that he said,

"I mean that those leaf ninjas sent you here, they had suspicions that Orochimaru was connected to the underground trafficking and deliberately sent you," Axal emphasised, and Lucy's eyes were wide and full of shock and disappointment. In the corner Kakashi felt like he couldn't breathe, he felt dread in his stomach was shaking trying to stop himself from going out to take Lucy away from this place but he knew that if he did then Lucy could be in even more danger because he doesn't know if there is anyone else here. Lucy looked down and Axal continued, "your precious Hokage and that ninja sent you here directly to Orochimaru, so tell me Lucy do you still want to protect them? Come on I left that other woman tied up in the woods do you want to go and see for yourself?" Lucy looked back up hesitantly before she smirked,

"Even if all of that is true what makes you believe that you are the better option?" Lucy questioned and Kakashi sighed in relief slightly at knowing that Lucy wasn't going to join Orochimaru, he never doubted that Lucy was loyal to the village but because of the circumstances she might have been tempted to join just to spite the Hokage, "besides I know for a fact that they wouldn't have done this to hand me back to that psycho but to see where my loyalties lie. Why go to so much effort to make me a ninja of their village if they were going to throw me away?" Lucy questioned Axal smugly and Kakashi looked on in awe, Lucy really did have too much faith in others. She wouldn't believe that someone has betrayed her unless they had directly told her such as her past sensei has.

Axal looked angry that she still had faith in the village that his master despised so strongly. How could she do this to him, he did all of this for her, "You little brat, I did this for you so that you could have power, isn't that what you wanted?"

"You are confusing strength with power, besides what's the point of having either if you can't use it to protect the people that you care about? I have people that I want to protect, people that I want to get back to and nothing will stop me from achieving that," by the end of Lucy's speech she was yelling and Aquarius's mark had become visible on her chest, a golden glow had surrounded her and Lucy pulled her wrists apart with enough force to break her chains.

Lucy smirked and looked directly into Axal's eyes and was about to launch herself at him when he pressed a button underneath the table and all of the doors opened. In walked several huge tigers each one a different colour. Lucy looked around her trying to assess what to do, there were eight tigers that were as tall as the room and dozens of regular size tigers.

"The smaller ones have poison on their claws and I won't even go into what the larger ones are capable of. Good luck making it out of this room alive kid," Axal said as he left through the door that they came through and Kakashi decided to make himself known and ran towards Lucy.

"Ka-Kakashi what are you doing here?" Lucy yelled out as she dodged an attack from one of the smaller tigers.

"I'll explain later," Kakashi yelled back as he got closer to Lucy dodging tigers as he went but before he could get to Lucy the door behind the head of the table opened and a loud growl sounded through the room. They both froze and turned towards the sound and a paw reached through the opening.

"That couldn't be a tiger's paw, could it?" Lucy asked and all of the Tigers started to cower at the sight of the large paw,

"Seems so," Kakashi replied, they both stared at the paw that was forcing its way through the opening and Lucy clenched her eyes shut trying to figure out what to do.

"Crux isn't there any information that you could give me to help?" Lucy asked out loud and Kakashi didn't even spare a glance at how Lucy was talking to one of her spirits, she did this all of the time around the house after she told him and the Hokage about them.

"Well Miss Lucy, you could try to form a contract with them, Virgo has been holding onto the summoning scroll you have until you found something to do with it. Now might be a good time to use it," he replied through their link,

"What if they reject me though, I might end up being lunch," Lucy shouted out worried, now Kakashi was looking at Lucy confused not knowing what she was talking about it.

"Miss Lucy, if I may be so bold to say that there is no possibility of that happening, they will know how much you are willing to sacrifice to keep them safe once you try to establish the contract," Crux replies and Lucy got a determined look on her face before running towards the huge paw.

Lucy needed to make a contract with their leader and that tiger seemed to be her best bet. Lucy heard Kakashi yell at her to stay back but she continued running and silently asked Virgo to give her the summoning scroll. Once the scroll was in her hand Lucy threw a kunai at the tiger's paw and created a small cut on its toe, the tiger roared at the pain and attempted to break through the door.

Lucy then bit her thumb and winced as she drew blood, letting the tigers blood fall onto the summoning scroll and then signing her name, Lucy then waited to see if the scroll accepted her. When nothing happened she silently asked Crux to explain what could have gone wrong.

"Miss Lucy, try making the leader submit to you, the tiger might not be accepting the summoning scroll at all,"

"Right," Lucy said firmly before jumping over the giant tiger's paw and trying to find a way to get to its head which they still hadn't seen because only the paw could fit through the door. Kakashi had caught onto what Lucy was doing and tried to by her some time by distracting the other tigers, all the while trying to avoid their claws. Lucy frowned seeing that there was no way for the tiger to get in or for her to get out so she equipped into her Taurus star dress, she looked down and sighed in relief to see that her bikini top had been changed into a white crop top that ended above her belly button and a leather jacket that had black sleeves and a cow print body that ended above her crop top.

Thankful for the extra coverage Lucy ran towards the wall and added chakra into her fist for more damage, thrusting her fist out Lucy punched the wall and it created a dent before it tore apart and there was no wall left. Kakashi looked over when he heard the bang and sweatdropped at the damage Lucy had done.

 _'No wonder she held back, she would've killed Gai'_. Kakashi thought, _'I better be able to explain things clearly after this or I might end up like the wall'_. He added silently before going back to distracting the tigers.

Lucy ran out of the opening that she just created and saw the most beautiful looking tiger. It turned out to be a saber tooth tiger and it had icy blue eyes, fur that was as black as midnight and greyish, white stripes. The power that was radiating off of it was suffocating.

Lucy ran up the sabers leg equipping into her Cancer form without the swords and used her speed to make it the rest of the way up. Jumping over the tiger's nose Lucy landed in between its eyes and gently placed her head down on its forehead and whispered in a soothing tone,

"It's okay, you don't have to fight anymore, all you have to do is accept the contract and I can protect you and the others from Orochimaru," Lucy pulled away and looked into its eyes, "I know what it's like to be at his mercy and I won't let that happen to you again," the tiger's eyes widened slightly as it saw Lucy smile and began to glow slightly before poofing away. Lucy landed on her feet before running back to where Kakashi was and saw that the other tigers were disappearing one by one and Lucy assumed that they were following the saber.

Kakashi turned to her and started running towards her and grabbed her shoulders, "are you okay, Lucy?" Kakashi was still panicked from when he first saw Lucy and was looking over her to check for any major issues. Lucy, however, shook his hands off,

"What are you doing here?" Lucy asked and looked at him with her guard up, Kakashi realised that she didn't trust him and was hurt but tried not to show it. Lucy wanted to trust Kakashi but her conversation with Axal kept replaying in her mind, if he didn't know anything then why is he here and what happened to Anko? Axal said that he left her tied up in the forest but for what reason, why not bring her or even kill her?

"Lucy it's not what you're thinking," Kakashi tried to explain but stopped when he saw Lucy glare, this side of Lucy he has never dealt with before. Lucy always kept an open mind and even before they officially met Kakashi still never saw this look on her face before, "I didn't know anything about Orochimaru," Kakashi tried again,

"Then why are you here and what happened to Anko?" Lucy yelled out trying to get answers,

"Anko is fine, okay, look let's just get out of here first and I'll explain everything once you're back in the village safe," Kakashi then took Lucy's wrist in his hand gently trying to pull her towards the exit but Lucy snatched her wrist out of his hand.

"I'm not going anywhere with you until you explain what's going on," Lucy demanded and Kakashi turned around and sighed before walking over to the now broken table and taking a seat,

"I guess I should start at three days ago," Kakashi started before turning to look at Lucy and Lucy wasn't sure whether she was going to like what she hears, "I was in the Hokage office with the rest of the Jonins, we were discussing your progress with your training. Gai and Anko expressed concerns because they could tell that you were holding a lot back, the Hokage suggested that you go on a high ranking mission so that we could see how you went when you went all out," Kakashi took a deep breath at this and looked up at the ceiling, Lucy continued to look at him from where she was standing not moving. "When the Hokage decided what rank mission you would be going on and who was going with you I wasn't happy; I was worried about you. I tried to get the Hokage to agree to let me go as back up but he never let me, once you left with Anko I tried one last time to get the Hokage to agree to let me follow you but when I got there he was talking to Gai. Once he mentioned that your mission was connected to Orochimaru I left the Village to follow you," Kakashi turned to look at Lucy than to see that she still hadn't moved from her spot.

"Lucy," Kakashi got up and walked over to Lucy and grabbed her shoulders, "I swear I did know anything about Orochimaru until that moment," Lucy looked up at him at this,

"I believe you, it's just," Lucy took a deep breath, "Anko used me as bait didn't she?" Lucy frowned and looked down, clenching her fists, "I know that she has a past with Orochimaru and she also knows that he still has an interest in me," Lucy's voice broke slightly when she said his name, her arms shook slightly as she was unable to stop feeling the terror that came with remembering her time with him. Kakashi pulled Lucy to him and wrapped his arms around her small form, she feels so small he thought to himself almost forgetting that she is a little girl. Lucy let go of the tears that she didn't know she still had, she had cried so much that it surprised her that she could continue. Lucy clutched onto Kakashi's Jonin vest with her small fists as she cried, she let out everything that she had been holding in for so long.

How homesick she had become since being transported to this world and how desperately she tried to get back. Lucy cried for the loss that she felt when she saw her old sensei again and the betrayal that came with it, she cried for how Anko used her to get closer to Orochimaru and how she got captured once again. She cried for the fear she felt when she realised that she was in chains, she cried for how lonely she felt when she thought Kakashi knew how Orochimaru was connected to the mission. Lucy cried for considering leaving the village when she heard what the Hokage had done and for thinking about abandoning Naruto after she promised to help him. Lucy just cried and ignored Kakashi's soft murmurs to her and just relished in his warmth.

"Well isn't this touching," a voice hissed out from the doorway and Lucy jumped slightly while Kakashi put her behind him. In the doorway stood Axal snarling at the sight of them, "I'm surprised that you're still alive, what happened to the tigers?" He questioned and looked around not seeing a single one of them,

"None of your concern," Kakashi said sternly before Lucy could answer,

"No matter, I see that you've finally made yourself known Copy Ninja of the leaf," Axal said, ' _copy ninja?'_ Lucy silently thought to herself but kept her eyes on Axal, Kakashi tensed beside her and Lucy gripped onto his arm knowing that he was only here with her because they let him, "I'm surprised that it was you that came, who knew that you'd become so attached to Orochimaru's little champion?" Lucy glared at Axal then, hating the name that she had made for herself in the pit. Kakashi looked down at Lucy slightly confused at the name before focusing back on Axal, he could always ask her later, "I expected Orochimaru's student would've come to get her, what was her name again? Anko was it?"

Lucy held back a gasp at this, ' _she was his student?'_ Lucy then put the pieces together, her fighting style was so similar to Orochimaru's, although Lucy had never seen him seriously fight the way he held himself was so alike Anko's and Lucy wondered how she didn't put it together before now.

"I can see that you're surprised Lucy, didn't she tell you? Oh that's right Anko doesn't trust you, she thinks that you're working for Orochimaru," Axal said smugly, Lucy's eyes widened and she looked to Kakashi to see if it was true but he avoided her gaze. Lucy looked back to Axal not knowing what to think about this information, ' _was everything with Anko a lie? Did she only train me to get information out of me? Information that I don't even know, is this the reason why the Hokage sent her with me on this mission because she doesn't trust me?'_ Lucy's thoughts continued to run wild but were snapped out of it when Kakashi spoke to her,

"Lucy, let's just focus on leaving for now. I can take you to confront Anko myself once we get back to the village okay?" His voice was rushed and quiet, not taking his eyes off of Axal,

"Right," Lucy nodded and stepped in front of Kakashi facing Axal,

"L-Lucy what are you doing? get behind me,"

"You trust me right, Kakashi?"

"Of course but," Kakashi started confused but Lucy cut him off,

"Kakashi I will handle this myself, Axal-Sensei and I have some unfinished business," Lucy said sternly before quipping into her Capricorn star dress and asking Virgo to give her, her halberd. A golden glow surrounded her from Aquarius's mark being completely full of chakra and ethernano, the energy started to surround Lucy and flow off if her like an overflowing tank of water. Lucy took a deep breath in and released it slowly before putting pressure on her right foot and pushing herself towards Axal, using the speed that she has learnt from Gai helped to catch Axal off guard.

Using this Lucy was able to use her halberd and make a cut on his left cheek, Axal jumped back and put his finger on his cut and wipe off some of the blood. Looking at his finger then back towards Lucy he started chuckling, "it looks like you've mastered that speed we were working on while we've been apart," Axal said looking somewhat proud and angry all at the same time. By this time Axal had sprung up and attacked Lucy trying to hit her, Lucy had never seen Axal fight before, yes he was her teacher but he never really fought her, it was always dodging her attacks and pushing her back. Lucy kept dodging, trying to figure out if there was a pattern to his movements but every time Lucy caught on he changed his technique. Beginning to grow frustrated Lucy jumped back and started making hand signs,

"Wind style: Eternal vortex jutsu," Lucy said out loud as she took a deep breath in and then let it all out in Axal's direction. Adding enough force so that he got swept up in it and was forced out the door. Lucy ran to follow him and Kakashi was right behind her, letting Lucy take the lead until he was needed. Lucy made hand signs as she ran in the direction of Axal, equipping her halberd into her hands one again her weapon lit up with electricity. Kakashi looked at it in surprise and so did Axal.

"Lucy, how did you learn that?" Kakashi asked her,

"Believe me it wasn't easy, it's probably the hardest thing I've ever attempted. Adding enough chakra so that the effects last but not enough to break my halberd or electrocute myself, took weeks of meditating and chakra control. I finally got the right balance though," Lucy said proudly before equipping into her Taurus star dress and before swinging her halberd down onto the ground and releasing the chakra that was stored in the justu and weapon at the same time as the impact. Kakashi looked on in shock as the ground started to split apart and the electricity travelled on the ground towards Axal who managed to get away from it at the last second but not without ruining his shoes. The bottoms of them were burnt off.

 _'Adding chakra into a weapon alone requires almost perfect chakra control but making that chakra take a natural form as well and then releasing it in a perfectly timed attack. That almost seems unreal and yet I'm seeing it being done by a tiny eight-year-old girl.'_ Kakashi thought to himself in astonishment, ' _she could even be better than Asuma at adding chakra to weapons, not only that but she seems like a ninjutsu type, to begin with.'_ Kakashi's thoughts continued.

Lucy smirked as she saw Axal take his shoes off in anger, she knew how expensive those were and she burned right through them. He just did exactly as she wanted, Lucy was about to jump up and attack Axal when Kakashi stopped her,

"Lucy, we need to leave as soon as possible. Anko gave me a time limit to get you back to the village, if we don't get there by tomorrow she's going to tell the Hokage. That means that you'll go into interrogation and they'll force you to tell them everything about you," Kakashi rushed out, Lucy clenched her fists tightly,

"I'll have to make this quick then," Lucy growled out, equipped into her Aquarius star dress and started making hand signs, "Water style: great wave jutsu," Lucy called out and a giant wave appeared in front of her and continued to rise as Lucy added more chakra and magic power together. Once Lucy released the jutsu she held her arms out in front of her like she was pushing the water in that direction, and water swept over the surface of the area. Creeping through the cracks in the ground that she had created and knocked over the wall that was in front of them.

Once the water cleared away you could see outside of the building and Kakashi started leading Lucy into the forest.

 _'Everyone I need some help_ ,' Lucy started silently talking with her spirits, ' _there's a chance that I may be interrogated when we get back to the village, is there anything you can do about only showing my memories with Axal and Orochimaru. Or maybe showing my memories of my mum without letting them get suspicious of me?'_ Lucy desperately asked,

 _'We'll look into it Miss Lucy,'_ replied Capricorn and Lucy sighed in relief, that was one problem out of the way, she had complete faith that her students would succeed in finding a way for her to do it herself. All of a sudden an arrow shot past Lucy and hit Kakashi in the arm, running towards him Lucy looked at the wound only to see it turning blue around the edges of the cut. The cut itself looked harmless but how Kakashi's skin was turning blue worried her.

"That arrow has a deadly poison on it that was created by Orochimaru's lab experts, they have no cure for it at the moment, so the copy ninja only has a few hours until he dies," Lucy heard an echo from around them in the trees, Kakashi was already becoming weak from the poison.

"The poison will first attack his limbs, stopping his movements, then his senses will start to dull, next he will fall unconscious and finally it'll attack his organs and shut them down, it's extremely painful and has no cure," Lucy and Kakashi heard. Lucy started to panic slightly not thinking clearly, she saw the blue colour start to spread and started to breathe heavily; trying to focus on what to do.

Lucy take a deep breath in and do what I tell you, Lucy heard Loke say to her and started to breathe in slowly before letting it out, good, now you need to get back to the village as soon as possible and you need a sample of that poison to take with you, Lucy heard Loke tell her and she nodded slightly before starting to think of a plan.


	9. Chapter 9

Lucy had found the arrows that had the poison on them and kept her eyes on them, she was going to get those arrows if it killed her and get Kakashi back to the village.

 **Back at the village**

Anko had just arrived back at the village and snuck past the sleeping guards at the gate before looking for Gai, she was tempted to just go straight to the Hokage but she did promise Kakashi and she trusted him and his opinions even if she didn't agree with him. She just hoped he wasn't wrong about Lucy but she also hoped that Lucy did turn out to be a traitor, then she wouldn't have to feel so guilty about attempting to use and abandon her. Anko sighed as she rounded the corner and spotted Gai about to run up a vertical cliff before she stopped him.

"Gai, wait I need you to do something for me," Anko said in a hushed tone as to not alert anyone that knew she was supposed to be out on a mission. Gai turned to look at Anko and was about to shout out questions to her before her hand on his mouth stopped him, "Kakashi found out about Orochimaru being connected to mine and Lucy's mission and went after us. By the time he got to me though Lucy and I had become separated so he went after her. He asked me to come to get you as a backup and ask that you don't mention this to the Hokage,"

"Of course I shall go help my eternal rival and the Youthful young Lucy," Gai stated as he began to run towards the village gates but stopped once he noticed that Anko wasn't following him, "Aren't you coming too Anko?"

Anko looked down slightly guilty but then she looks changed to one of determination, "No, when Lucy and I got split up she called someone sensei, she knew who knocked us unconscious and tied me to a tree, she's working for them Gai. She has to be, after what she's supposedly been through, who could smile like that? Someone twisted that's who," Anko started hammering on and on trying to justify her actions, "besides Kakashi doesn't trust me with Lucy's safety anyway," Anko said bitterly,

"Right now I don't blame him," Gai said firmly and Anko looked at him shocked and was about to protest when he continued speaking, "If you said all of this to her face do you think she would feel safe with you? I think that you are projecting your anger from Orochimaru onto Lucy and that's what's causing mistrust because I know you care for her. Otherwise, you wouldn't have wanted to train her or spend time with her. And I know that Lucy is not that kind of person, that fire in her eyes is so youthful that it cannot be persuaded by the temptation of Orochimaru," Gai started off serious but ended with tears in his eyes and holding up his thumb at Anko before running towards the gates to follow Kakashi before his trail became cold.

 **With Lucy and Kakashi**

Lucy was currently using her Sagittarius star dress and continuously shot arrows at her opponents, she watched as they fell to the ground wounded and the others jumped back out of her range of eyesight.

 _'Gemini is there any way to copy them without summoning you, or at least to gather as much information as possible?_ ' Lucy silently asked,

 _You might be able to transfer the information to us,_ she heard Gemi say, _only if you use our star-dress of course,_ Mini finished,

Lucy nodded and transformed into her Gemini star dress, and noticed that instead of the diamond being cut out around her chest it was now on her stomach showing her belly button. Using her speed Lucy surrounded herself with her magic, closed her eyes and touched one of her wounded opponents trying to copy their memories and knowledge. Lucy snapped her eyes open once she felt a wave of memories and emotion run through her head, similar to how Hibiki transferred the Urano Metria spell to her. Lucy quickly transferred the information to Gemini and they gave all of the information that was important to Crux and asked him to file it for Lucy.

Lucy did this a number of times before Gemini told Lucy that they could not hold any more information until Crux had copied it. At this, Lucy looked around trying to find her opponents and quickly take them out but she heard a thump from behind her. Looking towards the sound and seeing Kakashi breathing hard on the floor instead of leaning up against the tree she left him by. Lucy started to panic, and run through a couple of plans in her head.

Lucy still needed the poison arrows and had lost sight of them because they moved out of her eyesight. _'I need more chakra_ ', Lucy thought to herself and released the seal that was on her Aquarius mark. Feeling it spread throughout her body, she moved it towards her senses, her nose, her ears, her limbs and her eyes. Lucy looked around and saw where everyone was hiding from her, she could see farther, she feels that static in the air, could hear them for miles. Lucy, focused her eyes on one of her opponents and saw that they held the poison arrows.

Lucy focused all of her attention on him and pushed herself at him with the speed she didn't know she had. Looking closer Lucy could see through their skin, she could see their muscles and blood filled veins. She could hear their heartbeats and where they were injured or physical weaknesses. Using this newfound ability Lucy kicked her enemy in the middle of his chest where she could see had been injured a few days beforehand and was still healing. She grabbed the arrows and asked Virgo to store them away safely. Lucy left her opponent on her ground coughing up blood and saw that Axal was cowering behind all of the people that are helping him attack her. Lucy grabbed her halberd and pushed herself through the mass of people blocking her way to Axal and skid to a stop in front of him. Behind her all everyone was staring wide eyes at her speed, Lucy saw Axal take a step back and hold a sword up in front of him. Lucy kept her eyes on him as he jumped back and landed beside Kakashi and she tightened her grip on her halberd.

"Take one step closer and he dies instantly," Axal snarled out trying to mask the fear in his voice by sounding angry. Lucy narrowed her eyes buy then smirked, Axal looked at her confused but then in surprise as he felt pain in his stomach, looking down he saw the tip of Lucy's halberd coming out of his stomach when he looked up he saw her poof away, "a shadow clone? When? How?" He stuttered out,

"I made a couple of them when you and your lackeys hid yourselves in the trees, when you jumped away from me I did a substitution with one of them and snuck up behind you," Lucy said before pulling her halberd and watched as he fell to the floor losing a lot of blood, Lucy felt tears come to her eyes, "one must never underestimate their opponent, this is something that I learned from you," Axal's eyes widened at her words as they started to fill with tears,

"Despite everything that's happened I want to thank you for everything, without you I wouldn't have become a shinobi, something I've been against from the start. I now see what it really takes to be a ninja and I'm going to change it so that people don't have to make those choices. The choices that can destroy them," Lucy said as she used whatever strength she had left to pick up Kakashi and start dragging him in the direction of the village with tears streaming down her face, not looking back as Axal died with a peaceful look on his face.

Lucy was breathing heavily as she was jogging through the forest with Kakashi on her back and the poison arrows clutched in her hand, her vision started to get hazy and just as she was about to collapse some held her up. Looking up Lucy smiled and whispered, "Gai, poison arrows," before blacking out.

 **Time skip three days**

Kakashi groaned as he opened his eyes and looked around, seeing that he was in the hospital made him groan once again until he remembered passing out on the ground with Lucy fighting off enemies. He shot up from the bed and tried standing up only to fall on his face, he heard the door open and tried to push himself up only to see a hand in front of him. He looked up and saw that it was Gai's hand and grabbed a hold of it. Once Gai had Kakashi back on the bed Gai tried to explain what happened once he got to them.

"You were out cold Kakashi and Lucy looked like she was running on empty, she managed to tell me something about poison arrows before she passed out. When I got you both to the hospital they were able to extract poison from you and get you into a stable condition but they haven't been able to create a cure for it yet so they've been checking on you every few hours to make sure there isn't any leftover so far you're in the clear," after this Gai got quiet,

"What about Lucy, where is she?" Kakashi asked,

"When they looked at Lucy they had to put her into a medically induced coma," Gai said and looked into Kakashi's eyes, "she has woken up yet, she used too much chakra in such a small amount of time, they were surprised that she was still alive when she got admitted, we're waiting for her chakra to become stable again," Gai said and Kakashi's eye widened and he tried getting up again. Gai tried to calm him down and get him back in bed but his attempts were useless, it was then that the door opened again to reveal the Hokage. Kakashi couldn't control what came out of his mouth,

"She's in this position because of you, if you had never sent her on that mission she would be safe right now," Gai's eyes widened at Kakashi's words, he had never seen him disrespect the Hokage before, disagree maybe but never something like this.

"The state of which she is in is unfortunate but it was for the good of the village Kakashi, surely you understand that," the Hokage said and his words just made Kakashi angrier,

"The good of the village? She has never done anything to the village, she's just a little girl who would never want to hurt anyone. A little girl that you forced to become a ninja of your village and then throw her back into a hell that she had just escaped from," Kakashi yelled out and started heaving in anger,

"That may be true but we needed to know if she was working with Orochimaru and thanks to the information that Anko gave us we know that she at least has a personal connection to someone that does," the Hokage paused and continued before Kakashi could start yelling again, "You went against my direct orders Kakashi and went after them, have you got anything to say for yourself?"

"I regret nothing," Kakashi said, "You know that person that she knew was her past sensei, he took her in as his blacksmiths apprentice and taught her taijutsu, turns out that he was getting her ready to become one of Orochimaru's experiments," Kakashi explained trying to keep Lucy out of interrogation, he didn't want her to go through that again, "I watched as she broke at what he was telling her and how betrayed she looked when he told her that you sent her on that mission because Orochimaru was connected to it and I also watched as she still stood up to him despite that, I had to watch her fight someone she cared about so that we could come back to the village and I had to watch her kill her old sensei to save me," Kakashi took a deep breath before he continued,

"Does that sound like someone who would work with Orochimaru?" With that Kakashi asked Gai to take him to Lucy's room and Gai put one of Kakashi's arms over his shoulder and lead him through the hospital.

The Hokage was left in the hospital room alone with his thoughts and sighed in regret, I don't regret sending her on that mission because of that I now know that she won't betray this village despite what I've made her do but unfortunately that isn't enough to convince the council, especially since Anko seems to be certain that Lucy is working for Orochimaru. I have no choice but to send her into interrogation or else she'll be thrown into prison or worse.

Forgive me, Lucy.

Lucy's eyes opened only to close again once the blinding light hit them, slowly she opened them once more to find that she was in the hospital once again and tensed as she remembered what happened before she passed out. Lucy put her arm over her eyes, whether it be an attempt to block out the light or attempt to hide away she didn't know but all she could think was, I was useless, everything that happened played through her mind like a broken record.

She killed her past sensei and put Kakashi in unnecessary danger all because she wanted an explanation. Lucy could feel tears well up in her eyes at the thought of Kakashi, he was poisoned, who knew if he survived or not. I couldn't do anything, not really. I couldn't help when it mattered and Kakashi could be dead because of it. Her thoughts kept playing in her head and Lucy has to sit up so that she could a keep the tears from flowing down her face, though she still kept her arm across her eyes. Lucy didn't look up as she heard the door open nor did she take her arm away from her eyes.

"Lucy," she heard a familiar voice call out before said voice pulled her into a hug, at first Lucy was shocked and was going to pull back but she recognised Kakashi's smell and relaxed into him with relief, "how are you feeling, are you hungry? Do you want me to run out and get you something?" She heard Kakashi ask but all she did was shake her head and grip his Jonin's vest tighter, she felt him sigh and put his hand on her head, "I know that you just woke up but I need you to know that the Hokage has decided to hand you over to interrogation for questioning," Lucy tensed and quickly asked her spirits if they had found anything to hide the fact that she's from a different world.

 _'Well, Miss Lucy if you can equip into a star dress of Horologium then you can control anything they see inside of your mind, but they need to be real or your mind could become unstable while someone else is sifting through it. We can try and make Horologium star-dress as normal looking as possible so they won't be suspicious.'_

 _'Thank you guys, I owe you one,'_ Lucy sighed and pulled away from Kakashi, "do they need to know everything or can it be just my time with Axal and Orochimaru?" Lucy asked trying to prepare herself,

"They want to know as much as possible but I think if you don't hesitate in telling them of your time with them they might let the rest go, at least for a while," Kakashi said and Lucy could tell that he doubted what he just said and was just saying it to calm her down.

Lucy laughed slightly at his attempt, "they won't believe a single thing I say now, they're going to search through my mind for the information even if I tell them the truth," Lucy stated bluntly and Kakashi tensed slightly and looked a little guilty, "Don't look so guilty Kakashi, this isn't your fault. Believe it or not, I know how politics work, this isn't about keeping the village safe this time or I would've been chained to the bed like the first time, this is about pleasing the council isn't it?" Lucy questioned but didn't need an answer and Kakashi didn't give one.

Lucy frowned and avoided looking at Kakashi in the eye, "what's wrong?" Kakashi asked worried that she was going to freak out about the interrogator,

"What's wrong? What do our mean what's wrong? I almost got you killed," Lucy said suddenly and Kakashi looked beyond confused,

"Eh?" He sounded surprised and Lucy looked down and tried to keep her voice steady,

"Because I was stubborn, if I had just waited for that explanation then you wouldn't have gotten poisoned," Lucy whispered and Kakashi sighed in exasperation,

"Lucy we were ambushed, that was planned well before you asked for an explanation, it would have happened either way," Kakashi tried to soothe her but she just shook her head,

"I couldn't do anything," Lucy choked out and Kakashi's single visible eye widened, "You were dying and I couldn't do anything," Lucy sniffed,

"I'm alive because you got me to Gai Lucy, Gai told me what state you were in when he finally made it to us. Lucy, you almost died, how useless do you think I feel?" Lucy looked up at him then, "all I did was let the enemy know I was there and then got poisoned, from what I could tell you didn't even need to be rescued your kind of took care of it on your own." Kakashi humorously chuckled at that, "despite how young you are you clearly know how to take care of yourself and you're a natural when it comes to handling yourself in battle," Kakashi paused and looked reluctant to continue speaking, "You don't really need me at all," this was spoken in a whisper as if he just came to this realisation and he looked down at the ground disappointed.

Lucy looked speechless, she didn't know what to think or to say because almost everything he said was true. She did know how to take care of herself and she had plenty of experience on the battlefield but Lucy had, had several meltdowns since she got stuck here and felt like she was slowly losing her mind. No matter what she learnt about this world nothing was ever said about travelling across world's, not even fictional books had anything on the matter. During the time that she was in Konoha though, seeing Kakashi every day was a part of what kept her together, even if they didn't speak it was nice to have something stable and constant in her life. Something that she hasn't had since she was living with Axal.

Despite the dull ache of her muscles Lucy shoved the blanket off of her and crawled into Kakashi's lap. She wrapped her arms around his waist as far as they could and rested her head on his shoulder, "your right," Kakashi tensed at this but Lucy continued before he got the wrong idea, "I've been taking care of myself for a while Kakashi, I told you what my childhood was like; I was alone," Lucy took in a deep breath, "I've always hated being alone, I think if it weren't for my spirit summons I would've gone insane. I've been left behind so many times and I always end up right where I started,"

Lucy paused at this thinking back to when Fairytail disbanded and she had to watch as everyone left Magnolia one by one. Each time felt like someone was taking a piece of her with them. She sighed before continuing, "I don't know if I could do it again," Lucy slightly whimpered as she tightened her hold and Kakashi saw once again that Lucy had gone through much more than just what Orochimaru put her through and it made him wonder how she could be so happy some days.

Kakashi placed his arms around Lucy and hugged her tightly when an idea to change her mood suddenly came to him, "Hey Lucy, there's someone who really wants know how you're doing,"

"Who?" Lucy asked, after all, Lucy didn't know many people in the village it was just the Jonin's and Naruto, Kakashi quickly bit his thumb and performed the summoning just and Pakkun appeared on the floor by the bed. Pakkun and Lucy spent a lot of time together when Kakashi was out on missions, Kakashi thought that it would be best if someone stayed with her especially at nights or if someone couldn't watch her.

"Pakkun," Lucy cheered and extended her arms for Pakkun to jump into from his place on the floor, she was still in Kakashi's lap as he jumped up on her lap and neither one moved as Pakkun made himself comfortable but Pakkun did give a questioning look at them before focusing his attention on Lucy who was happily stroking his ear.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy looked at herself in the mirror and saw what her Horologium star-dress looked like, Horologium managed to design a white cloak with golden linings and golden clock earrings, Lucy looked down at her feet and saw the boots were shin height and were white also.

 _'Usually, you would have a headband with a clock on the top with brown clothes that had pockets all through them and a shield to go on your back instead of the cloak, but for just this, once the celestial king has allowed me the cloak instead. I hope this works Miss Lucy.'_

 _'Thank you, Horologium and everyone else for all of your hard work,'_ Lucy and Horologium said to one another. Lucy hoped that they didn't ask her to take off the cloak,

"Lucy are you ready to go?" She heard Kakashi yell through the door of the bathroom,

"I'm coming," Lucy called back and opened the door and together they walked downstairs, Kakashi didn't say anything about the cloak and for that Lucy was grateful she didn't think she could lie to Kakashi, she would probably end up telling him everything eventually but for now she didn't know if he would put her in the loony bin or not. As they neared the Hokages office to meet with her interrogator so they could lead her to a soundproof room Lucy reached out and grabbed Kakashi's hand, Kakashi looked down at their hands slightly surprised but decided to leave it alone and continue walking silently.

Lucy stopped walking once they reached the stairs and Kakashi stopped a few steps ahead of her and turned to look at her, "Lucy?"

"I don't want them to know Kakashi," Lucy said suddenly, "I'm not trying to hide anything but I want to tell it on my own, not through a mind reader and not through force. I want to tell my past and have the person I'm telling not only believe me but also be someone I trust. I don't want to be strapped down to a chair in a room barricaded and surrounded by people I don't feel safe around," Lucy looked down and hugged her arm to her side,

"What if I went in with you?" Kakashi suggested as he knelt down to her height level and looked into her eyes, "would you feel safer if I was there?" He asked and was hopeful the latest she said yes but was dreading having to convince the Hokage to let him in the interrogation room with her after their last encounter Kakashi wasn't really in a position to be asking for favours.

Lucy looked down embarrassed, "Aren't you in trouble?" She asked, stating it like he was grounded or something,

"I can request to go in as a witness, I wouldn't be able to be there while Inoichi goes through your memories but I can be there while you talk. You can pretend that you're only talking to me," Kakashi said as he lifted her up and placed her on his shoulders both to cheer her up and because they were already late enough as it is,

"It would make me more comfortable if you could manage that," Lucy said mainly because she doubted that he could because of his current circumstances, he was suspended from going on missions until Lucy gives proof that she is not a traitor to the village. If they decided that she is guilty then Kakashi could be tried for aiding in said crime.

Lucy had to duck her head because on Kakashi's shoulders her head hit the ceiling, so she slid onto his back and he hooked his arms under her knees, she was holding onto his Jonin vest and had her cheek against his back. Kakashi knocked on the door and Lucy took a deep breath to try and calm her nerves, once Kakashi got permission to go inside Lucy got off of his back but still stayed behind him, holding onto his Jonin vest and followed him inside.

"Ah Kakashi they're you are, where is Lucy?" Lucy heard Lord Hokage ask and she slowly stepped out from behind Kakashi and looked at the Hokage with guarded eyes. The Hokage turned his gaze towards her and held in a sigh of disappointment, all of the progress that he had made with her had gone down the drain in a matter of hours, "Lucy are you ready to tell us your story?"

"I don't really have much of a choice," Lucy boldly stated and Ibiki who was standing behind the Hokage growled at her,

"I finally get to put you in your place brat, if you resist I'm allowed to use physical force," he said with a twisted grin and Kakashi tensed from beside Lucy and put a hand on her shoulder and gave Ibiki a threatening look.

"It's nothing I have not experienced before, I'm sure you are child's play compared to Orochimaru and his rats," Lucy stated calmly and the Hokage closed his eyes tightly and sighed,

"Ibiki, she is not resisting do not threaten her needlessly," the Hokage said gently trying to let Lucy know that she is safe here, to which Lucy ignored. Kakashi still had not stopped glaring at Ibiki who felt slightly threatened under his gaze. Ibiki may be the head of the T&I division but Kakashi was a better fighter then he was, he would hate to have him actively come after him.

Kakashi turned his gaze back to the Hokage, "Lord Hokage, I request to be a witness in the interrogation,"

"Y-you can't be serious?" Ibiki stuttered out before glaring daggers at Kakashi, "You are too personally involved with the girl, you would not be able to remain biased throughout questioning,"

"I could say the same about you, you seem to have a personal dislike for her making you unfit to interrogate her," Kakashi argued back,

"Why don't we just let Inoichi question her then follow up with the mind jutsu, you both can remain behind the glass and listen," the Hokage stated and Lucy tensed up slightly before forcing herself to appear relaxed though Ibiki caught her before she could and looked slightly smug.

Kakashi knelt down to her level, "are you okay with that Lucy? We can always put this off for a few more days you know, you just got out of the hospital yesterday," Lucy looked at Kakashi and sighed,

"I'm still going to have to do this in a few days so I may as well get it over with now, besides in a few days they'll be even more impatient for answers," Kakashi looked worried about her for a moment before getting an annoyed look on his face when Ibiki had to interrupt,

"She's a smart girl, you should listen to her and just hand her over," the Hokage sighed at Ibiki's choice of words and prayed that Kakashi could hold his anger until the questioning was finished.

"Let's just get this over with shall we?" Lucy asked and looked at the Hokage expectantly. Lord Third nodded and motioned for them to follow him, making their way through the hallway Lucy could feel her heart beating in her chest and hoped that she didn't screw this up if she did she wasn't the only one in danger.

The Hokage stopped at a set of doors and opened them up inside was a two-way mirror and a few chairs, "this is where Kakashi, Ibiki and myself will remain while you get questioned by Inoichi, he works in T&I as well. He is from the Yamanaka clan, they specialise in mind justu's," the Hokage briefly explained as he opened the door that leads to the room connected to it, "I didn't think it was necessary to add restraints, just sit back and relax and wait for Inoichi to come and I'll grab you some water, oh and you don't have to say anything about your spirit summons," the Hokage said the last part as a whisper so that Ibiki could not hear him before he turned and walked out of the room.

Lucy walked over to the table and sat on one of the chairs and tried to calm her nerves, Lucy jumped when the door finally opened a few minutes later and saw a blonde haired man walk through the door, he had a kind smile on his face and he looked completely relaxed.

"Hello Lucy, I'm Inoichi it's nice to meet you," Lucy nodded her head in response as he sat across from her and place a cup of water down in front of her, Lucy lifted it up to her face and sniffed the water inside to see if it was safe to drink and Inoichi frowned slightly and tried to give an encouraging look to her but couldn't because his brow was burrowed still.

"I guess I should start with how I met Axal," Lucy said and folded her hands in front of her and placed them on the table, Inoichi nodded,

"Whenever you're ready Lucy,"

Lucy was currently sitting in front of Inoichi telling him of how she first met Axal and how he became her teacher, "I had been separated from the people that had been taking care of me, I ended up alone in the forest. I heard some people nearby talking about a town nearby so I started walking in that direction. I stayed the night in the forest and ended up in the town by late afternoon the next day and tried to get a job in the town. I had no idea where anyone I knew was or where I had ended up, I had no money or a place to go and no one wanted to hire me. This was just over two years ago, so I was six at the time. Someone pointed me in the direction of the blacksmiths, said that they were looking for an apprentice. That's where I met Axal, he owned the place," Lucy paused at this trying to remember what exactly happened and Inoichi was patient, waiting for her to continue on.

Lucy continued to explain everything about her time with Axal until she got to how she got captured, "About ten months after I became his apprentice I had finally finished my sensory training and went into the forest to do a powerful technique, this technique took all of energy to do and completely drained me, it was also very destructive so I went where no one could be hurt. Once I finished it though, I was ready to pass out when someone came out from behind the trees," Lucy shuddered at the next thought,

"It was him wasn't it, Orochimaru?" Inoichi cut in gently, seeing as how she was struggling to come to terms with what happened, Lucy nodded and continued,

"He tried to capture me and obviously he succeeded but before he could Axal came, they fought and long story short I saw Axal die by a sword to the stomach, or I thought I did at least," Inoichi looked confused,

"You saw him die? But wasn't he involved in your mission?" Lucy nodded her head solemnly,

"When he offered to train me it was because Orochimaru told him to, Axal was getting me ready to give me to Orochimaru but when he saw that I wouldn't hurt anyone unnecessarily they planned for him to 'capture' me," Lucy clenched her hands at this, "anyway, once he did I spent eleven or so months in his stupid cave while he did experiments on me and threw me into 'the pit,' as we liked to call it,"

Inoichi placed his pen down where he was taking notes to compare to later on as he saw this getting more serious and harder for Lucy to talk about, "would you like to take a short half hour break? You could get something to eat and some fresh air if you like," Lucy nodded her head wanting to get out of the room as it suddenly felt tighter and got harder to breathe.

Lucy jumped slightly when she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Kakashi staring down at her in concern, "Let's go get something to eat," Kakashi suggested and lead her out of the room. Lucy kept her head down as they walked through the village, Lucy was lost in thought and Kakashi left her alone. Knowing that the next part of her past wasn't going to be as easy to explain.

Lucy sat pushing the ramen around in her bowl not feeling hungry, "Hey Lucy, you going to eat that?" Lucy heard Naruto ask from beside her as he pulls up a stool beside her, Lucy shook her head no and passed it to him knowing that he would eat it.

"You okay Lucy?" Naruto asked with a mouth full of food, Lucy smiled at him with closed eyes,

"Of course, I was just thinking," Lucy turned around to look at the clock that was hanging up in the corner of the stall, "I should get back, I'll catch up with you tomorrow, okay Naruto" Lucy waved behind her as she walked out of the little stall.

"O-okay," Naruto whispered and looked down at the bowl of ramen sitting in front of him,

"Oi Naruto," he heard from behind him and saw Iruka standing behind him,

"Iruka-sensei,"

"What's wrong?" Naruto looked down at that,

"You know my friend? That girl I told you about?" Iruka nodded signaling Naruto to continue, "she looked upset and I don't know how to make her feel better,"

"Maybe she's just having a rough time Naruto, why don't you give it a few days and then see how she is?"

"You don't understand Iruka-sensei, someone like Lucy should always be smiling," Naruto stated firmly and Iruka softened his gaze and let out a small chuckle,

"Why don't you get her something then, girls like gifts," Iruka suggested, Naruto started smiling and quickly finished his ramen before running out of the store,

"Thanks, Iruka-sensei," he shouted and Iruka chuckled behind him but stopped once Teuchi came up and handed him a bill, Iruka got a tick mark on his face and grumbled before handing Teuchi the right amount of money.

Meanwhile, Lucy was walking with Kakashi back to the interrogation room, she didn't know where he went off to earlier when she was conversing with Naruto but he seemed to be in a better mood. Like he was hovering less than he did, which is something that Kakashi has started to do lately. Lucy didn't mind because he never put his nose in her business and just asked her like a normal person if he was curious about something. Once they were outside of the interrogation room Lucy took a deep breath before walking back inside and seeing Inoichi there sitting in the spot that she left him in and sat down across from him with a calm look on her face.

"Okay Lucy, when you're ready," Inoichi said, Lucy nodded and took a deep breath,

"I remember waking up in a cell," she started,

 **Flashback starts in Lucy's POV**

I groaned as I opened my eyes and looked around, I have a massive headache and my vision was hazy. I shot up into a sitting position remembering what happened to Axal-Sensei and felt tears start to form in my eyes. I wasn't strong enough to save him, all of that training and hard work feels like such a waste now. I turned my head as a heard a large creak come from the side and saw a huge metal door open and someone came through. I couldn't tell the gender but they had long black hair and the palest skin that I have ever seen. I froze suddenly remembering that this was the one that killed Axal-Sensei and made me watch. I pushed myself into the corner only to hear the person chuckle,

"So you appear to remember me, that's good, it means I don't have to threaten you," I heard him hiss to me, I glared in his direction but that only seemed to amuse him, "You should rest now, you're going to need it for what happens next,"

 **Flashback end back to 3rd person**

"After that, I was either being punished, experimented on or in the pit," Lucy said and tried to keep her voice steady,

"The Pit?" Inoichi asked and tried to keep the pity out of his voice but failed. Lucy sighed as she heard the emotion in his voice but ignored it and tried to explain,

"It's like a fighting arena, for testing new experiments and 'improvements' that are made not to mention Orochimaru's amusement," Lucy snarled when she said his name had to take a deep breath to calm down, my first time in the pit is where I made my first kill, it was about two weeks after I had first gotten there,"

 **Flashback start in Lucy POV**

I looked around and noticed that I was in an enclosed room, I tried to move but realised that my arms and legs were chained to the floor and walls. The line door on the other side opened and a cloaked figure made their way to me, they blindfolded me before they unlocked my chains and tied my hands together and started shoving me outside of the room. At first I didn't know where I was going but then I heard murmurs from the people in their cells and knew that I was going to the pit, I heard rumours from the others, eventually, after you get experimented on enough Orochimaru sends you into the pit.

I was thrown to the floor and got a mouthful of dirt before my blindfold had been taken off. I looked around and realised that there was another person on the other side of the arena, a big burly man with multiple scars and was wielding an axe. The person that dragged me here untied my hands and slammed the door that he threw me through behind him,

"This will be a battle to the death," I heard from above her and looked up to see Orochimaru standing on the outside of the arena, I looked back at the person across from me and saw that he looked smug, "this is my favourite, he has never lost," Orochimaru said and I realised that I had to fight to the death. The man across from me started running towards me and I dodged the axe that nearly hit my head. I continued to dodge and avoid being hit until I felt myself being shocked by something placed on my back, "If you don't fight you will die," Orochimaru shouted from above them,

"I won't kill him," I yelled back, the man still looked smug and you could tell that he didn't feel bad for anything that was happening,

"Why try and protect this man? He didn't hesitate in trying to kill you,"

"I won't kill simply for the sake of it," I yelled back and dodged yet another series of attacks,

"What about for your life," the man I was facing grumbled as he aimed for my head once again, I stopped the man's axe from hitting my head and pushed chakra into my free hand. I punched the man on top of me in the stomach and released the chakra on contact and I suddenly felt him stop, I felt liquid running down my arm.

I pulled my arm back and looked at it to find blood costing my hand and I panicked. I looked at the man that had dropped to the ground beside me and saw he wasn't moving, "well done," I heard Orochimaru whisper to me.

 **Flashback end 3rd person**

Lucy chuckled dryly, "he congratulated me, on killing his favourite competitor," Lucy shook her head like she still couldn't believe it. "Most of the time only one person ever made it out of the pit,"

"Most of the time?" Inoichi asked her, Lucy closed her eyes and nodded,

"Sometimes he would send someone inexperienced against me and I would quickly knock them out before anything could be said, I would get sent into punishment for that. Each person I didn't kill was a couple hours of punishment longer than the last," Lucy stated dryly, "eventually he realised that torturing me wasn't getting him anywhere persuasion wise so he started looking for other means of making me more obedient,"

Inoichi swallowed a lump in his throat and took a deep breath while Lucy was trying to stay calm and get this over with, "I'm afraid I have to ask how he tortured you,"

"No you don't but I know you're just doing as you're told," Lucy stated bluntly, almost accusingly before continuing anyway, "at first it was physical torture, using whips and welding irons and stuff, most of the damage was healed so there aren't many scars. After a while he tried using mental torture, that's how I found out that genjutsu doesn't work on me. So instead of creating a mental image in my head he decided to actually make those images a reality," Lucy swallowed and choked back tears, "he started experimenting and torturing others in front of me," Lucy whispered and looked down. From behind the two-way glass, Kakashi's eyes were wide at what Lucy was telling them and the Hokage had closed his eyes in regret. Ibiki was standing there stiff as always and he doesn't appear to have changed his opinion in any way on Lucy.

Inoichi looked at Lucy and felt his heart go out to the poor girl, you could tell that watching others get hurt in her place was what she has taken the hardest. Lucy really does have a kind soul, "this is the way it stayed for the remainder of your time there?" He asked quietly and once Lucy nodded her head he moved onto other questions, he was already going to make her relive it after so he wouldn't pry too much about it now.

"So you've told us about Axal and Orochimaru now what about before all of this? You said that you got split up from the people that were taking care of you? What about your parents?"

"My parents are dead," Lucy stated bluntly and took a deep breath before she continued, "my mother died a while ago and my father and I were at odds before he grew ill,"

"What do you mean at odds?"

"After my mother died he started to neglect me, he was a businessman of sorts so he threw himself into his work. Once I overheard him making arrangements to have me married off as soon as he was able to, I ran away from home that night," Inoichi looked at the girl closely as she was talking,

 _'An arranged marriage at this age? No wonder she ran away but she's so young and would have been even younger then.'_ Inoichi thought to himself.

From behind the two-way glass, all three of the men had different thoughts running through their heads, ' _I guess she has been taking care of herself for a while,'_ Kakashi thought.

 _'This child has definitely got the will of fire in her, her hope seems endless_ ,' were the Hokage thoughts.

 _'So the brats been through a lot doesn't give her the right to disrespect Lord Hokage,'_ Ibiki thought stubbornly to himself. Inside the interrogation room, Inoichi was trying to find the right way to tell her that he was essentially going to go through her mind and see whether or not she was telling to truth.

"Do you have any more questions or are you just going to go through my mind?" Lucy asked suddenly when she saw Inoichi pause,

"I have asked all of the questions that I have needed to," Inoichi said looking slightly uncomfortable, never before has he been so unwillingly to look through someone's mind.

"May I ask how that works?"

"If it would make you more comfortable, as you might know, my clan specialises in mind jutsus. There are different types of mind jutsu's such as mind transfer jutsu, this would allow me to take over a person's body, there is the mind destruction jutsu which is a very dangerous technique that would allow me to kill somebody and then there is the mind reading jutsu which is pretty self-explanatory but I'll go into more detail if you want. When I use the mind reading jutsu on you it will be really similar to the mind transfer jutsu, your body will go limp while I search your mind. Unfortunately, it'll be like you're reliving everything but it'll also feel like it's a dream or maybe it'll be more accurate to call it a nightmare," Inoichi took a deep breath and looked towards Lucy's face to see that she looked slightly panicked, "Ah don't worry I'll make sure to take breaks when your mind seems to be in distress or unstable and I'm not making this sound any better am I?" Inoichi tried to calm her but it just made her panic more, the door of the interrogation room opened and Kakashi made his way to Lucy. He picked her up and sat her down on his lap and tried to calm her down.

"Just hurry up and do the Jutsu before I make a run for it," Lucy stated firmly but held down onto Kakashi's arms tightly as she looked Inoichi in the eyes. Inoichi nodded and quickly did the required hand signs before form a circle with his hands and looking Lucy in the eyes through them, suddenly both Lucy and Inoichi went limp, Kakashi didn't let go of Lucy the entire time they were under.

 **In Lucy's head**

Inoichi walked down a brightly lit hallway and stopped at the first door and opened it up, it was the memory of the mission that she took with Anko. After viewing that memory he made a mental note to talk to the Hokage about it after this and continued to walk down the hallway.

Coming across a door that was golden he opened it up to see an image of a beautiful blonde wearing an elegant gown with a bright smile on her face and Inoichi concluded that this must be Lucy's mother. "I wonder if Lucy will take after her mother when she grows up?" Inoichi mumbled to himself and watches as a three-year-old looking Lucy ran straight into her mother's legs and stared in wonder at a golden key that her mother had passed to her.

Walking away from the memory Inoichi came across a greyish door and decided to look inside, inside was a memory of Lucy crying in front of a grave and when Inoichi could get a good look at it he saw that it was her mother's, Layla Heartfilia, "What a strange last name," Inoichi mumbled before walking away from the memory.

This time Inoichi came across another grey door but this time it was a slightly lighter shade, walking through he saw that he was in a fairly large office. He saw a dark blonde man with a moustache working at the desk, hearing the double doors open he turned to find a version of Lucy that couldn't be much older than the previous memory, she was holding what looked to be a rice ball with a face on it.

"Daddy look, I made a rice ball with your face on it," little Lucy exclaimed excitedly, "I made it special for you Daddy, it's not good to work on an empty stomach," the man that was apparently Lucy's father just grunted and said dismissively,

"Come back later I'm busy," Lucy looked down,

"I'll just leave it here in case you get hungry," she said smiling once again while placing the rice ball onto his desk, "today's special you know because it's..." Lucy tried to continue but her father growled and started yelling,

"Lucy, don't you ever listen I don't want your silly rice ball, just go back to your business studies," he smacked the rice ball off of his desk and Lucy looked scared before turning around with a quick apology and walked slowly towards the door,

"umm, daddy?" Lucy turned back around slightly,

"Just go and stop being such a pest," Lucy ran out into the hallway crying,

"But today's my birthday," Inoichi faintly heard before he made his way out of the memory.

 _'Poor girl,'_ he thought to himself as he made his way to another door, this door had a symbol on it. It looked to be a winged creature with a tail, trying to open the door Inoichi found that he couldn't although he could faintly hear voices coming from the other side, "Natsu, Happy," Inoichi could hear but decided to move on since he couldn't open the door.

Then he came to a door with a snake symbol on it and tried to prepare himself for what he was about to see. Opening the door, he found that he was inside a cell and he watched the events of the next eleven months play out. When it came to the point where Orochimaru starts his mental torture Inoichi feels as though he's going to be sick.

Inoichi could only stare as Orochimaru brought in a small boy that couldn't be any older than Lucy and Lucy looked terrified at what was going to happen because she knew that the boy wouldn't be leaving alive. Inoichi heard the boys screams and Lucy beg for him to be let go, all Orochimaru did be laughed at the site of Lucy begging. Once Orochimaru was done with the boy he left him to bleed out on the cold floor and Lucy had to watch as he slowly died in front of her unable to do anything to relieve his pain.

 **End of Lucy's mind**

Inoichi pulled himself out of Lucy's head and started to gulp down air, he was sweating from head to toe and was so pale. Lucy didn't look much better as she hid her face in Kakashi's Jonin vest, she was breathing deeply and had tears pouring out of her eyes. Inoichi himself looked as if he was about to cry.

"You should take her home Kakashi, I'll take care of the rest," Inoichi managed to get out of his mouth and at those words, Kakashi scooped Lucy up and settled her on his hip and carried her out. Lucy was clinging to his neck and had her face on his shoulder trying to calm her breathing. Kakashi was walking out of the interrogation room and didn't stop to look at the Hokage or Ibiki as he continued to walk to a place that he could teleport from. Once Kakashi had teleported into his sitting area he sat down with Lucy still attached to him. Kakashi was stroking Lucy's hair not knowing what to do or to say. He didn't see what Inoichi saw but Inoichi looked like he was about to break down,

"Do you want me to get you anything?" He murmured to her quietly and all Lucy did was shake her head and tighten her hold on him, "not even a strawberry smoothie? I know they're your favourite," he said teasingly but frowned when Lucy shook her head no once again.

"What about Pakkun? Do you want to see him?" Kakashi tried once again but all he got was another head shake, Kakashi was beginning to get frustrated, not knowing how to make her feel better and also not wanting to let his frustration show, "then what do you want? How can I make it better Lucy?" He tried to ask soothingly but it came out a little rough.

"Just stay," Lucy mumbled, she could hear the anger in his voice and hoped that he didn't get annoyed and leave her alone.

Kakashi froze slightly at her words, wasn't he terrible at this? Wouldn't she prefer something or someone else? "Stay, please," Lucy said again and if she could hold onto him tighter then she would of.

"O-okay," Kakashi finally relented and relaxed into the couch with Lucy on his lap.

Kakashi woke up to find himself on the couch covered with a blanket and tried to remember yesterday's events. He groaned slightly remembering how he fell asleep on the couch trying to comfort Lucy and looked around trying to see if she was still in the house. Concluding that he was in fact alone he was slightly worried about where she could be, getting up and walking into the kitchen he found a note on the table,

 _Kakashi,_

 _I left early because I promised Naruto that I would meet up with him today, there's food in the fridge,_

 _Thank you, Lucy._

Kakashi frowned slightly seeing as he's never had Lucy's cooking before, the whole time that they've been living together he's just done the cooking before Lucy could even get hungry. Kakashi didn't even know that she could cook, walking to towards the fridge he saw a plate stacked high with pancakes with bacon and eggs on the side. He was surprised that she didn't wake him up while she was cooking and that everything in the kitchen was already cleaned up.

Kakashi quickly finished the food and left to go to the memorial stone as he hadn't been there nearly as much now that Lucy had taken up some of his free time.

 **With Lucy**

Lucy was sitting at the ramen stand waiting for Naruto to arrive, she didn't think that he forgot because they agreed to get ramen and he would never pass an opportunity to eat ramen. Lucy sighed as she remembered the events of yesterday and wondered how much Inoichi told Lord Hokage and Ibiki, she felt Inoichi try to see her memories with Fairytail and had struggled to keep it locked while he was in her mind. She almost let him through, she needed to train with her magic more.

 _'Lucy, I've been looking into why you passed out so suddenly after your mission. It wasn't because you used too much chakra too fast it was because you used too much magic power too fast. This world doesn't generate enough ethernano to replenish you when you use too much,'_ Crux told Lucy through his key,

 _'Is there a way for me to store extra ethernano somewhere so that this doesn't happen? Like with the seal I placed on Aquarius's mark but just dedicated to ethernano?'_ Lucy communicated back,

 _'I suppose you could but it would have to be a magical item, the seal that you used on Aquarius's mark didn't specify which type of energy you would be gathering. If you used a magical item, it would limit the amount of chakra that you could store inside of it because the item would be made out of ethernano particles. They would be embedded into the item,'_ Crux tried to explain,

 _'So basically what you're saying is that if I use something that has been made by ethernano particles than I could still use the seal that I placed on Aquarius's mark because it would dictate that I need that particular energy source?'_ Lucy asked Crux,

 _'Yes, Miss Lucy,'_

 _'Then why didn't it work for Aquarius's mark? That was made by magic power,'_

 _'Because you are not made by pure magic power, there are small particles of chakra within you that had grown over your time here. You need to use an item that is pure magic power,'_

 _'Could I use a gate key?'_

 _'I'm not entirely sure Miss Lucy, while the keys are made of magic power they also store beings from a different world. You might just be transferring magic from that world to this one,'_

 _'Thanks for all of your help Crux, we'll have to talk more about this later. You and everyone deserve a break for all of your help,'_ Lucy replied and was snapped out of her conversation with Crux by a hand on her shoulder, turning around she saw a man with the Konoha forehead protector on his forehead with brown hair and a scar over his nose, extending to both of his cheeks.

"You're Lucy right?" Asked the scarred man,

"Yes, may I ask how you know that?"

"My student Naruto talks about you a lot," Lucy blushed slightly and looked away embarrassed,

"I'm afraid to ask what he's said," the man laughed slightly,

"Don't worry he only said about some pretty girl saving him from bullies," Lucy flushed bright red, recalling when he called her that the second time they met. Teuchi laughed as he overheard their conversation, "You're all he ever talks about nowadays," he continued,

"I'm sorry I didn't get your name," Lucy suddenly said trying to change the topic, the ninja teacher laughed,

"I'm Iruka, Naruto knows me as Iruka-sensei," he held his hand out for Lucy to shake, she looked at it for a moment before extending her hand to shake his.

"Lucy," Lucy heard someone call from behind her and turned to see that it was Naruto running towards her with a box in his hands, "sorry I'm late," he huffed put and put the box down in front of her.

"What's this for?"

"You looked sad yesterday so I wanted to cheer you up," Naruto said and Lucy looked up in surprise,

"This, is for me?" Lucy asked quietly and Naruto suddenly blushed,

"Y-yeah, um, I wanted to get you something special but everyone just threw me out of their stores so I made you something, t-that's why I was late, b-believe it," Naruto said and looked away from her, Lucy looked at the box with a soft look on her face,

"Can I open it?" She asked,

"S-Sure," Lucy slowly opened the box and looked inside to see what looked to be a wooden cylinder with three pieces of glass placed inside the wood by a carved opening. Lucy looked at Naruto confused,

"I made you a telescope, because you said you like stargazing," Naruto mumbled, Lucy's eyes widened in surprise and looked down at the telescope and brought it up to her eye. Looking through she gasped as she looked at Naruto, "What? What is it?" Naruto asked worried,

"Your head is huge," Lucy stated bluntly and laughed as Naruto sweatdropped, Naruto looked away embarrassed again,

"D-do you like it?" He asked cautiously, Lucy put the telescope down and looked at Naruto she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his cheek,

"I love it, Naruto," Lucy said as she pulled away and turned back to look at her telescope. Naruto's eyes were wide and his face was all red, behind the both of the them Iruka and Teuchi were watching the whole thing and they were laughing at the sight of Naruto embarrassed.

"A-are we going to eat or what?" Naruto announced before he ordered and Lucy laughed beside him and ordered as well,

"I actually can't stay long I have something to do today," Lucy said as they were eating,

"You always seem so busy Lucy, what are you going to do this time?" Naruto said with a mouthful of food,

"I'm going to the library to look up some books on medical ninjutsu," at Lucy's words both Naruto and Iruka stopped to look at her, "What is it?" Lucy looked at them confused,

"Why the sudden interest?" Iruka asked,

"Just thought it would be useful," Lucy mumbled put and took another bite of her ramen,

"If you're really serious about it I'm sure that one of the nurses in the hospital would be happy to help you," Iruka suggested,

"I'll keep that in mind," Lucy said as she finished her bowel, "I'll catch you later okay Naruto," Lucy asked as she got up from the bench with her telescope in her hands and started running in the direction of Kakashi's house to put the telescope away. Once Lucy got to Kakashi's she put the telescope away and was about to leave the house again when she opened the door only to slam it into something. Looking up Lucy saw that it was Kakashi, the door was in his face and his arm was extended as if to grab the handle, "Kakashi, I'm so sorry," Lucy apologised as she moved the door away from his face and saw that it now had a red, vertical line on it, at least on the few parts of his face that weren't covered up.

"It's okay, I just didn't expect you to be home," Kakashi said as he rubbed his face,

"I had to put something away, I was just about to leave for the library so I'll see you later," Lucy tried to leave,

"What's the rush? What are you researching anyway?" Kakashi asked boredly, in truth he was just checking her over to see how she was doing,

"Just something that interests me," Lucy replied,

"Like what? You know Lucy, I've been around for a while I could help you know,"

"I really don't think that this area is your expertise so, I'll just be on my way," Lucy tried once again to leave but Kakashi was now suspicious of what she was doing,

"Now wait for just a minute young lady," Kakashi said and mentally sweatdropped at his choice of words, as did Lucy, "What are you researching and why are you hiding it?" Kakashi continued,

"It's just an interest of mine, nothing to worry about," Lucy tried again,

"Lucy," Kakashi stressed once again trying to get an answer,

"I was just going to get a book on, medical ninjutsu," Lucy mumbled the last part of her sentence,

"Why the sudden interest?" Kakashi asked, worried about her overworking herself,

"Just thought that it would be useful," Lucy said and tried to avoid his gaze,

"This doesn't have anything to do with your mission does it?" Kakashi asked and Lucy stayed silent. Kakashi sighed and knelt down to her eye level, "You're not responsible for everything bad that happens to Lucy, you can't always save everyone,"

Lucy looked up at Kakashi at this, "I have to try though, right?" Lucy questioned him, she sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "I've got to try Kakashi, that mission was cutting it too close. Despite the fact that I got you to Gai, there are too many what ifs going through my head. If I need to learn medical ninjutsu to stop that then that's what I'll do," Lucy said and Kakashi sighed at her explanation,

"Alright, just promise me that you'll take it slow, medical ninjutsu is probably one of the hardest and most time consuming to learn," Kakashi stressed. Lucy has just relived her memories and Kakashi doesn't want her to overdo it. Lucy smiled up at him and nodded her head,

"Right, there's also something else that I wanted to look up in the library," Lucy looked thoughtful for a second, "something happened to my vision when I released the chakra that I sealed away," Kakashi frowned at that,

"What do you mean?"

"When I released my chakra I could suddenly see through people; I mean I could see their insides. I could see their muscles, blood vessels any injuries they had. I didn't think too much about it at the time because I was in a rush but that's not normal, right?" Lucy asked and looked up at him confused, Kakashi looked thoughtful and looked down at her,

"I'll look into it and see what I can find," Lucy nodded at his words and moved around him once again to leave for the library. Kakashi watched as she left and frowned in thought, _'seeing someone's insides? I've never heard of a kekkei Genkai like that before, the closest that comes to it is the byakugan but I've never heard it going into such great detail before.'_

Lucy ran towards the library not looking where she was going and numbed into someone as she rounded the corner, "I'm so sorry," Lucy said and looked up at the person she ran into and saw that it was Anko, Lucy gasped quietly. This is the first time that she's seen her since the mission, Lucy put on a guarded expression and Anko looked hurt for a second before rearranging her features. Anko swallowed,

"Hello Lucy," she said quietly, almost hesitating,

"Hello," Lucy said before moving around her and continued on her way but stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder,

"Wait, I want to talk to you," Anko said and Lucy turned around,

"I'm sorry Anko I'm busy at the moment, perhaps another time," Lucy said and quickly made her way towards the library before she bumps into anyone else. Lucy knew that she couldn't avoid Anko forever but she didn't want all of her memories with her to be a lie, she wanted to hold onto them for as long as she could because she's scared to find out the answers to all of her questions.


	10. Chapter 10

Lucy was sitting in the library looking up medical ninjutsu, it seemed pretty straightforward except for the fact that you needed to know the body inside and out in order to heal it. Lucy grumbled in frustration as she went to look for books on anatomy and made a mental note to get Crux and Capricorn to help her once her spirits break was over. Crux already had enough on his plate with her practically demanding information out of him left and right, he of all spirits deserved time off. Lucy noticed that it was getting dark and hurried back to Kakashi's place before he noticed that she was late, however, luck was not on her side,

"And where do you think you're going?" Lucy heard Kakashi ask from the sitting room as she tried to sneak inside the house and into her room,

"Umm to my room," Lucy said unsure of what to do next,

"Do you realise how late it is?" Kakashi questioned,

"I didn't realise until it started to get dark, I got caught up reading," Lucy tried to explain, but Kakashi was having none of it,

"I told you not to overwork yourself and what do you do?" Kakashi started to lecture and Lucy suddenly got a bored look on her face,

"Look Kakashi I know you're trying to look out for me but my head is full of information and I'm frustrated at how much I'm going to have to do to learn medical ninjutsu. Do you think you can lecture me tomorrow?" Lucy asked not even trying to hide how tired she was, Kakashi was about to relent when he looked at the bags under her eyes but shook his head and continued to lecture her. By the end of it, Lucy was falling asleep where she stood and almost fell over when Kakashi caught her gently and placed the anatomy book that she had borrowed on the table.

He picked her up and took her to her room, feeling bad for being the one to keep her up. Looking at her he frowned slightly and sighed, knowing that she was going to be doing nothing but reading and training for a while. Kakashi also spoke to Inoichi today about Lucy's apparent dojutsu and he confirmed that Lucy's eyes turned a gold colour and seemed to glow for a period of time during the mission. Since Lucy had no knowledge of it he wondered if one of her parents came from a ninja bloodline but Inoichi dismissed his idea when he said that Lucy's last name is Heartfilia.

Kakashi was tempted to speak to the Hokage about it but didn't want to put any extra stress on Lucy not to mention he didn't want something to happen to her. She has been through too much in this past week so he decided to speak with Lucy personally about it later. The Hyuga clan may be able to help but he doubts that they would do so willingly, they were a very conservative clan and didn't even let their side branch members know too much about their abilities. So the likelihood of them allowing Lucy to know even their taijutsu techniques was laughable. However, they could look at her chakra network and see if there is anything that he needs to worry about, Kakashi had already looked over her with the Sharingan but there was nothing amiss but that cloak that she was wearing had a weird aura around it.

Like it was chakra but not, it seemed protective of Lucy, it was surrounding her like a security blanket. Kakashi sighed deeply again before making his way towards his own room dreading how the next few weeks are going to be.

The next day Lucy awoke in her bed and went down to the kitchen to make breakfast. Lucy made spinach and mushroom omelets with a berry protein shake mix, adding in extra strawberries of course. Lucy found that she was needing more food the more she used her body and asked Capricorn for those meal tips that he was always badgering her about on Earth land. Lucy heard Kakashi come downstairs and called up to him,

"Kakashi do you want breakfast?"

"Sure," he called back in his usual monotone voice and he sat down at the table not bothering to put his mask on. Since Lucy has seen his face many times he doesn't usually wear the mask around her unless he already has it on. Lucy placed an omelet in front of his and a glass of her berry protein shake on the side and continued to plate up to her portion.

They ate in silence, Lucy was lost in thought, thinking about what she needed to get done today whilst Kakashi was wondering how he was going to bring up her possible dojutsu and whether she or not she would speak to the Hokage about it,

"Lucy," Kakashi said hesitantly, "I spoke with Inoichi yesterday about your eyes and what they did on your mission and he didn't really have a lot to say but he said that in your memory your eyes turned golden. That could have been when you started being able to see inside people's bodies, other than that there's nothing else I could find. Your last name isn't of a shinobi bloodline so I don't think that it's a kekkei Genkai, at least not one that's known," Kakashi said and Lucy tried to take in what he was saying,

 _'Of course, it's not a kekkei Genkai I'm not from this world but there's nothing else to explain it. I want to ask Crux about it when he gets off from his break but I doubt there will be much he can tell me. He only has limitless information on the spirit realm, anything else I have to give him the information.'_ Lucy frowned as she thought this and Kakashi sighed as he looked at her,

"We could ask the Hokage about it and see if he has any information or if he would let us look through some files for it but from the way you described your dojutsu, it's very similar to the byakugan, one of the strongest dojutsu's of the hidden leaf. They can only see the chakra system inside one's body though, not everything else as you can. I don't think that they would help you though, not without the Hokage ordering them to. They are very wary about telling others of their kekkei Genkai," Kakashi explained,

"I don't think that it's a kekkei Genkai, neither of my parents knew much about the ninja world let alone have a kekkei Genkai. My mother only knew how to summon celestial spirits, nothing about ninjutsu or anything like that. I'm the first of my family to actually perform a ninjutsu, the first that I've heard about anyway. Celestial Spirits are what my mother's ancestors focused on and that's hard enough as it is," Lucy explained to Kakashi and he frowned at her explanation,

 _'If your ancestors focused so intently on celestial spirits then why aren't they common knowledge like the Sharingan or byakugan? Why is it such a secret and why is Lucy so focused on keeping them that way?' Kakashi thought, 'what exactly aren't you telling me about your past Lucy, it's like you're intentionally keeping it secret. Should I worry?'_

Lucy was staring at Kakashi as he frowned at her in thought, "Why are you looking at me like that?" Kakashi shook himself from his thoughts,

"I was just wondering what else it could be besides a kekkei Genkai but I've come up blank," Kakashi explained quickly and Lucy sighed,

"So have I, I'm just wondering if it was something that could have developed with Orochimaru?" Lucy questioned,

"There have been cases of changing DNA but I've never heard of this kekkei Genkai before, you can't really create a kekkei Genkai out of the blue," Kakashi had another thoughtful look on his face, "have you been able to activate it since the first time?" Lucy shook her head no,

"I don't know how I did it so," Kakashi stared down at her for a moment,

"From my understanding people with dojutsu abilities focus chakra into their eyes, this is only after they activate it though. Activation is usually obtained through excessive emotion, such as fear, distress, excitement. What was happening when you noticed the change?" Kakashi questioned as he finished his breakfast and took both his and Lucy's dishes and placed them in the sink,

"All I can remember thinking was that I needed to get you back to the village, everything else is kind of a blur," Lucy put her hand to her head and looked down for a second, "I remember the tigers and how I made a summoning contract with them, then Axal came and words were exchanged then we started fighting. After I pushed him back we started to make our way back here before you were cut with an arrow, once we found out it was poisoned that's where things start to get hazy," Lucy avoided Kakashi's gaze now and took a deep breath,

"I remember hearing Loke talk to me through his key he was telling me what to do because I was panicking. Then I remember Axal threatening to kill you instantly, I then substituted myself with a clone and stabbed him from behind and I was running back to the village," Lucy explained, "I'm not too sure when I started to see people's insides exactly but I know that it was before Axal threatened you. I think it was around the time that I got a hold of the poison arrows but after Loke started talking to me,"

Kakashi was looking at Lucy intently now, trying to figure out how to recreate a feeling that she couldn't even remember, "can you try moving your chakra into your eyes and see if that works?" Kakashi asked so that he doesn't waste time trying to figure out another way. Lucy nodded and closed her eyes, taking in deep breaths and slowly letting them go. Once Lucy thought that she had enough chakra pushes into her eyes she opened them only to be disappointed with seeing nothing but Kakashi's boring face.

"How disappointing," Lucy mumbled and Kakashi got a tick mark on his forehead,

"Just keep trying," he stresses, "If nothing happens today we can go to the Hokages office tomorrow and discuss it then," Kakashi was still hesitant on going to the Hokage in regards to Lucy but it was the only way he could think of getting results without causing unnecessary problems. Lucy nodded and moved into the sitting room and started to meditate.

Kakashi was watching her from the sitting room entrance with a frown on his face, _'where exactly did you come from Lucy? There are no records of the name Heartfilia in history, what are you keeping from me?'_ Kakashi silently slipped away and went to the memorial stone where he stood there silently repeating the same names in his head.

 _'Obito, Rin, Minato-Sensei, what should I do. This little girl has broken down most of my walls and yet I don't really know anything about her. She's keeping something from me, I don't know if it's dangerous or not but I can't help but worry. I worry that I won't be able to save her either,'_

 **Time Skip**

It has been two weeks since Lucy and Kakashi have had that conversation at breakfast and Lucy has yet to activate her dojutsu. After the first day of trying Kakashi took Lucy to the Hokages office and let's just say that it was a waste of time.

 ** _Flashback two weeks ago._**

 _"Lord Hokage, we are here to discuss a new development with you," Kakashi said as he bowed in front of the Hokage and Lucy gave a slight bow when they came in,_

 _"What is this development?" asked the Hokage politely,_

 _"Lucy has appeared to have unlocked a type of dojutsu in the midst of her last mission, she hasn't been able to activate it since and we were wondering if there was anything in the village that could help with her training," Kakashi explains,_

 _"Yes, Inoichi expressed his interest in the matter once you left the interrogation room a couple days ago. I'm afraid that there's nothing I can do about it right now. You should speak with the Hyuga clan, they have a dojutsu as well," the Hokage said,_

 _"Lord Hokage, you know that the Hyuga clan won't acknowledge an outsider of the clan,"_

 _"Then I'm afraid there is nothing more I can do," Lord Hokage said and dismissed both Kakashi and Lucy._

 ** _Flashback end_**

Lucy grumbled under breath, trying to activate the dojutsu again is taking more time than she anticipated and taking time away from her medical ninjutsu studies. Kakashi is insistent that she get it done though, for whatever reason Lucy doesn't know. All she knows is that she hasn't been able to yet and it was frustrating, everything else has come so easy to her and with a little hard work she can master a technique with nothing but practice but for whatever reason, it's just not happening.

"Maybe we should recreate the emotions that you felt when you activated it," Kakashi said that night as him and Lucy sat down for dinner,

"I can't remember what I was feeling, everything went by so fast it felt more like a dream," Lucy grumbled as she started picking at her food, "I don't know why you're so insistent on this though, I could be studying medical ninjutsu instead of wasting my time with what appears to be a one-off," Lucy tried to persuade Kakashi yet again to leave it alone, Kakashi sighed as he tried to explain himself,

"This is a big deal Lucy, even those born of clans that prioritises a dojutsu not many of them actually activate it. Since you've activated one that no one has any knowledge about its a new opportunity to discover something about your family that you may not have known, or that has been lost for centuries. I don't know why you aren't more excited," Kakashi said sounding exhausted,

"I'm not excited because I've done pretty well so far without it, I don't need a dojutsu to be a strong shinobi that's just a bonus. I want to study medical ninjutsu, it's a lot more useful than trying to activate something that clearly wants to stay hidden," Lucy stated bluntly before sticking her nose up in the air slightly, trying to end the discussion,

"If you're doing fine without it then why are you so anxious to learn something new?" Kakashi questioned,

"Because medical ninjutsu is useful and something that I can actually do, even if I can't perform it yet I can still gain knowledge on the subject. Rather than trying to learn about something that has never been seen before," Lucy said with sass, and this time made it obvious that she was sticking her nose in the air.

Kakashi groaned and ran a hand down his tired face, "Honestly Lucy I don't know why you're being so difficult all of a sudden, you've had trouble with ninjutsu's before,"

"But even then I was making some progress because I either knew what I was doing wrong or I figured out another way to try it. I'm getting nowhere with this, why are you trying so hard to make it happen?" Lucy questioned, these thoughts have been plaguing her mind for a while and Kakashi always seems to evade them somehow.

"Because this could be a step closer to finding out who you are," Kakashi said trying to be nonchalant about it,

"I know who I am, I am Lucy Heartfilia," _a fairytail wizard,_ she thought the last part to herself _,_ "and no dojutsu is going to change that," Kakashi stayed silent after this and tried to avoid her gaze, "but you don't really believe that do you?" Lucy questioned him quietly, "You think that I knew about the dojutsu and that I'm keeping it from you on purpose," Lucy stated dryly and Kakashi looked up at her but she looked away.

Lucy picked up her plate, put it in the sink and started making her way out of the room, "wait, Lucy where are you going?" She heard Kakashi yell out to her as she slammed the front door closed since Lucy didn't know the teleportation jutsu yet she started running. Lucy ran until she ended up in front of the ramen stand and asked Teuchi for a drink,

"Strawberry milk coming up," Lucy sighed as she waited for her drink,

' _What am I going to do now? Kakashi seems to think that knowing what that stupid dojutsu can do will tell him more about my past, but it's not possible for it to be a kekkei Genkai I'm not even from this world how can I have a bloodline limit? Maybe it's just inherited magic from mum or maybe it was a combination of magic power and chakra that created a brand new dojutsu.'_ Lucy sighed again as she thought of the possibilities all she knows is that it's not a kekkei Genkai, it just can't be.

"Lucy, how are you?" Naruto asked from behind her, Lucy turned to him and smiles before turning back around,

"I've seen better days," she said as her drink got placed down in front of her,

"You always seem to have trouble follow you, Lucy," Naruto stated as he ordered his large number of ramen bowls, "Once I become Hokage I can protect you from it all," he declared with a smile on his face and a light blush coating his cheeks, Lucy smiled at him,

"I'm looking forward to it," Lucy said and turned towards her drink again. Naruto smiled wide at her words knowing that she meant them, "Hey Naruto, do you want to go camping with me tonight?" Lucy suddenly asked she didn't feel like going back to Kakashi's place at the moment.

Naruto, however, looked shocked at Lucy's suggestion, she didn't look like a girl that would like camping all that much. In truth, Lucy doesn't like camping but she's had to do it so many times for missions it doesn't bother her anymore. Naruto shrugged, "sure, it's not like anyone's waiting for me," Lucy frowned a little at what he said but put a smile on her face,

"Alright let's go and pack your stuff, I already have everything I'll need," Lucy said before grabbing Naruto's hand and started dragging him through the town after placing enough money on the counter to pay for the both of them.

"I didn't get to finish," Naruto yelled out but Lucy decided to ignore him. Once they got to Naruto's apartment he unlocked the door and let Lucy in and it took everything in Lucy not to cringe at the smell.

"Naruto I don't mean to sound rude or anything but this place needs to be cleaned," Lucy stated bluntly and Naruto sweatdropped,

"I don't like cleaning," was all he said,

 _'really I never would have guessed,'_ Lucy thought to herself,

"Go pack a change of clothes and pajamas as well as a toothbrush okay," Lucy stated and started looking around the room to see where she should start,

"All right, I'll be right back, you know," Naruto yelled out excited before running further into his apartment and Lucy decided to start cleaning the kitchen,

"Shadow clone jutsu," Lucy whispered out and did the correct hand signs, "all right everyone let's clean this place up," Lucy said to her five looks alike, they all nodded and started cleaning different parts of the apartment. One clone would pick up rubbish and put it into bags, another would be washing dishes and putting them away, one would be organising items and so on before eventually, all that was left to do was vacuum and mop the floors. Lucy and one of her clones started to do that just as Naruto came back and was amazed at what he saw.

Before he could say anything though Lucy grabbed him and dragged him out of his door once again, dragging him all the way through town she stopped right before they could get to one of the surrounding forests by one of the training grounds. Naruto looked towards Lucy confused, he didn't know why she was doing all of this, taking him camping and cleaning his apartment but he noticed that she had a lonely look in her eyes. One that he saw every time he looked into the mirror, Lucy may know what it was like to have a family but she also knew what it was like to be alone. Lucy understood him and he was determined to make her smile like she always should.

Lucy started dragging him again this time through the forest until they came into a small clearing and he could see a stream about 100 metres away, "Hey Naruto can you keep a secret?" Lucy asked and turned to look at him,

"S-Sure," Lucy smiled and nodded before turning around and taking a deep breath,

"Open, the gate of the Maiden, Virgo," Lucy called out as Virgo's key appeared in her hand, Naruto was amazed at what he saw next, he saw a pink haired girl in a maid's uniform standing in front of Lucy, she looked to be in her teen years.

"Is it punishment time Princess?" Asked Virgo in her usual monotone voice,

"What no!" Lucy yelled out, "I was just wondering if you could help us set up a camp?"

"Certainly Princess, will that be all?" Asked Virgo as she brought out a tent and supplies to build a small campfire,

"I might need some things to cook with later on," Lucy said as she looked at the supplies that Virgo placed me in front of her. Virgo started setting up the tent while Lucy started setting up a place to start a fire once it got dark and Naruto was still staring shocked at Virgo.

"Is there something troubling you?" Virgo asked Naruto as she noticed him staring at her, Naruto shook himself as he tried to think of something to say,

"Wow so you're like a summons of some kind and you can bring Lucy anything she wants?" Naruto yelled out excitedly,

"That's right, her wish is my command. Would you like anything else, my Princess?" Virgo said as she kneeled down in front of Lucy, bowing her head and placing her left hand on her chest. Naruto suddenly got an excited look on his face and Lucy sighed,

"No thanks Virgo and stop messing with Naruto," Virgo got stars in her eyes,

"Does this mean I can get punished?"

"Just go home," Lucy said as she waved Virgo's key and sent her back to the spirit realm. Naruto sweatdropped at Virgo's question but then started asking Lucy questions at a mile a minute.

"How did you do that? Can you teach me? Why does she call you princess? Are you royalty? Why is her name Virgo? Does she really like punishment? What kind of punishment is she talking about?" And the questions kept coming until Lucy stopped him,

"I'll tell you as much as I can once we get set up," Lucy said laughing slightly. Lucy brought out another key and called out, "Open, the gate of the Ram, Aries," and Naruto was once again in awe at the sight of a fluffy pink girl with horns, shyly standing in front of Lucy,

"It's been awhile Miss Lucy, I'm sorry," Aries squeaked out,

"No worries, do you think you could make enough wool to cover the floor of the tent so Naruto and I can sleep on it?" Lucy asked pointing towards the tent,

"Certainly Miss Lucy," Once Aries finished her job she poofed away, "I'm sorry, call me out soon,"

"You have weird summons, Lucy," Naruto said once Aries left and Lucy laughed slightly knowing that it was true,

"Yeah they are but I love each and every one of them just the way they are," Naruto smiled at Lucy's answer and they continued to set up their camp. Once they were done Lucy summoned one of her tigers and asked them if they could watch over their camp and guard them during the night. Lucy lead Naruto towards the stream and told him that they were going to catch fish for dinner,

"We don't have any fishing rods though Lucy," Lucy giggled slightly,

"Watch this," Lucy said an equipped into her Sagittarius star dress and shot an arrow into the water. Lucy picked up the arrow and showed Naruto that it had gone straight through a fish.

"Wow," Naruto awed at Lucy and she blushed before continuing to shoot arrows at fish.

 **Time skip because I'm lazy :p**

Lucy and Naruto were currently eating fish around the fire that they had started and Lucy was telling him about her spirits.

"They are a special summons that only me and a select few can summon, there are twelve golden gate keys in total and a lot of the silver ones. I can summon them from a different world to help me,"

"Wow Lucy that's so cool, I don't really get it but it sounds amazing," Naruto said and Lucy sweatdropped at his words,

 _'How could he not understand what I just said? What is Iruka teaching him?'_ Lucy thought to herself slightly frustrated,

"Hey, Lucy can you tell me another story?" Naruto asked as they both sat down in front of the fire to stay warm,

"Sure, what kind?"

"The one with magic, about the people in Fairytail," he exclaimed excitedly. Since Lucy told Naruto about Mira he wanted more stories like that so Lucy decided to tell him about the Fairytail guild in the form of a story.

"Okay, so what have I told you so far?" Lucy asked him although she already knows who she's going to tell him about next,

"You've told me about she-demon and her siblings, Titania, Master Makarov and how guilds work," Naruto said scrunching up his nose in thought trying to remember everything that she's said,

"Do you want me to explain it again?" Naruto nodded his head and Lucy started to tell him about Fiore, "in a land far, far away lies the kingdom of Fiore," Lucy started and immediately Naruto listened to what she was saying, he did remember what Lucy told him but he just liked hearing about how the guilds work and this place that has magic.

"So I think it's about time I tell you about a boy, a boy that goes by the name of Salamander," Lucy said after she finished telling him about Fiore for the millionth time and started talking about how Natsu grew up and found himself at the guild. While also explaining dragon slaying magic and how dragons were thought to be a myth. Naruto was completely entrapped the entire time, he loved it when Lucy told him about the FairyTail guild. A place for orphans to go and be able to call it home, a place where everybody is accepted and nobody is insignificant.

Growing up with no one, Naruto wanted something like that more than anybody and even though he knows that they're not real he likes to dream about a place like that. A place for people like him.

What Lucy didn't know though, was that someone had been listening in to the story, a person that Lucy's summoning tiger new well enough for them not to be considered a threat and this person couldn't stop listening to the story either. Watching at how passionate Lucy was about it and they couldn't help but think that it wasn't just a story but shook the ridiculous thought off once the story ended and left the little campsite.

Lucy woke up to see the sun just about to rise and noticed that she was laying down on Aries soft wool with her hand holding onto something. Looking over she saw that it was actually Naruto's hand holding hers and that he was still fast asleep, snoring his head off, she smiles as she gently took her hand from his and decided to call Virgo out to help her with breakfast. After Virgo left Naruto woke and left the tent to see Lucy cooking something in a pot over the fire and two bowls of rice, "Morning, Lucy," Naruto yawned out as he sat down next to her,

"Good morning, are you hungry?" Lucy asked with a big smile on her face,

"What is it?"

"It's a bit chilly so Virgo helped me make Miso Soup and rice," Lucy said as she placed some soup in a bowl for Naruto and gave him a spoon.

"Thanks for the meal, you know," Naruto said as he put his hands together and dug in. Lucy smiled and did to same,

"I have to get back after we pack up Naruto, but I'll walk you back to your place first okay?" Lucy said, she really should go back to Kakashi's before he sends his ninja dogs out to find her. She was lucky he didn't come and drag her back in the middle of the night. Once Lucy dropped Naruto off at his place she started the longest of walks back to Kakashi's, once she got there she stared at the front door for what seemed like hours before she finally opened it up. Lucy thought about just entering her room through the window but she didn't want to procrastinate any longer, well that and she wanted a strawberry milk that she knew was in the fridge. She had made Kakashi add it to the grocery list not long after she realised that she was their permanently unless stated otherwise.

Walking through the door Lucy felt sweat drip down her face and fall off of her chin and her heart felt like it was in her throat. She wasn't looking forward to the questions that she would have to answer nor did she really know how to answer them. What exactly could she say _? 'I don't need to check with you if I want to stay out for the night because I'm really 20 years old and oh, by the way, I can't have a kekkei Genkai because, I'm not even from this planet,'_ yeah that'll go down well. Lucy thought to herself as she walked through the house and tried to go upstairs to her room hoping that Kakashi wasn't even home. Luck wasn't on her side though as Kakashi revealed himself inside the sitting room doorway with his arms crossed. Lucy just stood there looking at him, waiting for him to say something but he didn't. Kakashi was waiting for an explanation or an answer or something to come from Lucy. The only reason he did not drag her back home by her ear was that he knew that she needed time and space, that and one of the Jonins let him know that she was camping with Naruto last night.

"Lucy, don't you have anything to say?" he asked her trying to keep a stern look on his face but failing considering she could only see one of his eyes,

"Umm, I'm not exactly sure what you mean," Lucy asked genuinely confused if he was angry about her staying out all night then he would have started scolding her by now but it doesn't seem like he's angry about anything. Just expecting an answer for something,

"Don't you have anything to add to our conversation yesterday?" Kakashi asked and Lucy suddenly got angry,

"No, I think I said enough," Lucy said and crossed her arms over her chest and looked away from him,

"What do you mean you've said enough? I expect answers, Lucy," Kakashi expressed angrily,

"Well, I can't exactly give you that because I don't know," Lucy emphasised the last the words,

"You know something, Lucy, I can see that you're keeping something from me," Kakashi said raising his voice,

"I am keeping something from you but I would never lie to you," Lucy was yelling by this time before she looked down and started whispering, "and I thought that you trusted me enough to know that," she then ran up to her room and locked the door,

 _'I've proven that I'm not working for or with Orochimaru, I went through their interrogations willingly. Aren't I entitled to any privacy, as long as no one finds out, then this secret isn't dangerous in any way and if it came to the point where someone is put in danger because of it I would gladly tell them everything and just hope that they don't throw me into a looney bin,'_ Lucy couldn't help but think to herself as she summoned Plu to cuddle with as she curled up on her bed. _'I guess this just proves that I really am all alone in this world, Naruto will try but I can't tell him about this. He already has enough to deal with,_ ' Lucy continued to think to herself as a tear rolled down her cheek _, 'Natsu, I miss you,'_ at that thought she finally let that rest of the tears fall and fell asleep cuddling with Plu.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy woke up the hours later and saw that the stars were out and that Plu had gone back to the spirit world. Wiping the hardened sleep from her eyes Lucy tries to sense if anyone was downstairs or not when she couldn't sense anything she unlocked the door and quietly walked down the stairs. Tip-toeing into the kitchen Lucy tried to make something to eat without being noticed but for the second time luck seemed to evade her. This time though it was Gai-Sensei looking at her and Lucy looked back at him confused. She added chakra into her nose and subtly took a deep breath in and confirmed that it was Gai that was standing in front of her,

"I hear that you're going through an unyouthful time my student, shall we go for a walk on this very youthful night?" Gai exclaimed loudly and Lucy frowned before nodding her head, not wanting to be rude.

Lucy had long before finished her sandwich and now Gai and herself were walking through the town quietly, "Kakashi asked you to talk to me didn't he?" Lucy suddenly announced in a low voice as to not wake the sleeping villagers,

"He is just worried about you," Gai tried to explain quickly,

"No, he's trying to get information out of me," Lucy said and she huffed, "this is none of his business, I don't need to explain myself to him," Lucy said haughtily,

"Perhaps not but maybe you should anyway. After all my eternal rival has always stuck up for you against everybody, he went against direct orders and left the village to protect you. I haven't seen Kakashi so emotional since our teen years," Gai tried to persuade and it almost worked,

"This isn't just about me keeping a secret from him Gai, he thinks I'm lying to him. I have never lied to him not once; I've just not told him things. Things that I'm not ready to tell anybody," Lucy expressed and looked down at the ground. Gai sighed and ran a hand through his bowler cut hair,

 _'These two are so difficult, this is such a youthful challenge to help two of my important people in need,_ ' he thought to himself while internally crying, "You may not know this Lucy but my eternal rival doesn't know how to express himself very well,"

 _'No really? I thought that he was just like they for laughs,'_ Lucy sarcastically thought to herself before listening intently to what Gai had to say,

"I probably shouldn't tell you this but Kakashi has been alone from a very young age and doesn't know how to connect with people very well," Lucy stopped him at this point,

"Yeah, I know about his father, the White Fang of the Leaf right?" Gai was shocked at what Lucy said,

"He told you about his father?" he couldn't believe what he was hearing, his eternal rival the one that he's known since his academy days, opened up to a little girl about his first loss and he only just got him to agree to challenges on a good day. Lucy nodded her head,

"Well there is his father but he also lost his first team," Gai said and tried to continue before Lucy stopped him,

"You're right you probably shouldn't be telling me this. Maybe it's best to wait until Kakashi wants to tell me himself," Lucy said firmly, Gai looked down at her in slight surprise,

"Don't you want to know?"

"Of course I do but it's not my place to decide, it's not my past to tell and I'm not going to force answers just because I'm curious. Despite the fact that he's doing it to me," Lucy grumbled the last bit under her breath and Gai smiled at her,

 _'Maybe it is a good thing that my eternal rival volunteered to watch over this youthful girl,'_ he thought to himself and looked towards the roof that Kakashi was currently hiding on top of. "Why don't I take you back home, it's late," Gai suggested and once Lucy nodded they both turned around and walked back the way they came. Lucy not noticing that the transportation jutsu had just been performed not too far from where she's standing. Back at the house, Lucy was sitting on the couch with Plu once again and didn't even look up as Kakashi walked into the room. Blatantly ignoring him as he sat on the other side of the couch,

"Can we talk, please Lucy?" Kakashi asked as he placed his elbows on his thighs and his chin in his hands,

"I don't know Kakashi, are you going to believe what I say?" Lucy said dryly and Kakashi sighed,

"I deserved that," Kakashi sighed, "Lucy I honestly don't know what to tell you and I don't know what to say to make this better but I know that I shouldn't have pressured you to tell me things that you might not have been ready to tell," Lucy looked up at him at that,

"And?" Lucy said drawing out the vowel sound,

"And I should have trusted you not to lie to me," Kakashi said and Lucy smiled slightly but looked down and frowned at the ground once again,

"I didn't mean to make it seem like I was lying to you or that I didn't trust you, it's just I can't tell you at least not yet," Lucy declared and she looked up at him,

"Can I ask; does this have anything to do with your family?"

"Partially but it had nothing to do with the dojutsu,"

"What about the time before Axal?"

"Yes, a big part in fact," Kakashi frowned in thought, trying to connect the dots and Lucy laughed once she figured out what he was trying to do, "trust me on this Kakashi, you won't be able to get it," Kakashi groaned quietly and Lucy laughed,

"You should go to bed, it's late," Kakashi said,

"But I've been sleeping all day,"

"Yeah, probably from exhaustion from overworking yourself, go to sleep Lucy," Kakashi said and sent Lucy up to bed once she was gone he groaned and fell back on the couch. _'Little girls are really hard to handle, I'm lucky that I had Gai come and calm her down. I almost screwed up big time, maybe next time I'll indulge Gai with his next challenge,'_ he thought to himself before finally going to be himself.

The next morning Lucy was making her way through town when she saw Anko coming her way and knew that she wouldn't be able to escape this time. Lucy just hoped that it didn't ruin her good mood, she didn't want to worry Naruto again when she saw him later,

"Lucy, do you have time to talk now?" Anko asked as she made her way in front of her and Lucy sighed,

"I suppose so," she whispered and quietly followed Anko to her favourite dango shop. Once Lucy was seated on the stool next to Anko she silently stared at the countertop and refused to make eye contact, Anko sighed as she stuffed a stick of dango in her mouth before she started talking,

"I want to explain myself, Lucy," Anko starts, "I want to explain why I did what I did,"

"What did you do exactly?" Lucy questions, she still didn't know precisely what Anko did all she knows is that she knew Orochimaru was involved in the mission. Nothing else has really been explained to her,

"I umm, used you to bait out Orochimaru and to see if you were working with him in any way," Anko said after taking a deep breath, "but I was right to be suspicious, I mean you called one of them sensei," Anko tried to explain herself, "you're close to them and that mission proves it. I don't know how you managed to convince the Hokage otherwise but there must be a reason that you're allowed to roam around the village freely," Anko stated just saying whatever comes to mind not really paying attention to Lucy,

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that while I'm going to be keeping a close eye on you, I would like for us to remain friends," Anko said with a mouthful of food, "It may not seem like it but I do care for you Lucy, I just want everyone to be safe is all," Anko finally looked at Lucy not really noticing that she made her angry, "so can we be friends again?"

Lucy took a deep breath, "you know what Anko I don't think that we can at least not right now, because I'm not the only one who use to be close to them so I don't think it's fair for you to judge me just because I was," Anko looked shocked at what Lucy was saying, "the person that I called sensei, I never realised that he was involved with Orochimaru, in fact, I thought he died the day I got captured. When I saw him again I couldn't believe what I was seeing and when he told me that he gave me to Orochimaru to use I was heartbroken, you see I never willingly stayed with that snake," by this time Lucy eyed Anko accusingly but softened her look as she finished speaking, "I've cut my ties with my previous teacher, to save Kakashi. Which is more than enough to prove my loyalty, it's also more than what you've done to prove yours," Anko looked furious at what Lucy was saying, "I can't really blame you though, it almost killed me to do what I did," Lucy looked down at the countertop with sorrow, "Anko there's nothing else I can say or do to make you believe that I'm loyal to this village, it's up to you to decide whether or not you do but until then we can neither be friends or trusted comrades," Lucy got up from her seat and paid for her single stick of dango, "I should leave you alone to think," with that Lucy left the store only to run into someone she never thought would willingly talk to her.

In front of her stood Ibiki, "let's take a walk Lucy,"

Lucy stared at Ibiki slightly for a moment with a look of disbelief on her face, "Sorry but my talking quota has just been filled but I might be able to squeeze you into an appointment next week, let's say a quarter to never," Lucy said smiling with her voice full of sass before she tried to walk around him,

"Fine don't talk just listen," Ibiki said annoyed before stepping into her path. Lucy took in a deep breath before letting it out slowly,

"You think you can talk while I walk back to Kakashi's?" Lucy asked rhetorically before moving around Ibiki and continued on the path to her current house,

"Inoichi mentioned that he couldn't get into a part of your past, that you had locked him out of it somehow," Lucy tensed at this and prepared to be taken into interrogation once again, "relax, I'm just here to talk you don't have to say anything," this did nothing to change Lucy's posture though and Ibiki cleared his throat before continuing. "He said that he saw a weird symbol, it looked like a winged creature. In fact, the way he described it greatly resembles the symbol on your hand." Ibiki pointed to her right hand, "it's a big part of your past, a part that you've tried very hard to hide," Lucy was trying not to panic and Ibiki could see that she was having trouble controlling her emotions, "I just want to say that I trust that whatever it is that you're hiding won't hurt the village," Ibiki grumbled and Lucy looked up at him in shock,

"I mean if you really wanted to hurt the village then you wouldn't be trying so hard to prove yourself, especially through honest means. You saved my comrade's life at risk of your own, in my book that makes you just as much a part of this village as I am," Ibiki was looking away from Lucy during his explanation, "but that's not all I wanted to say," Lucy looked at him confused before he continued,

"I was going to tell you this yesterday but when I went by Kakashi's you weren't there so I went to look for you, when I found you, you were with the Uzumaki boy so I thought I would wait and I couldn't help but overhear that story you told him," Lucy started to look nervous and Ibiki then knew that the story does mean something to her, "the boy in your story, is actually someone from your past right?" he questioned and Lucy couldn't help but look down and smile,

"Yes, his name is Nastu, Natsu Dragneel," Lucy responded fondly,

"What I don't seem to understand is the part of the story where you said that it took place in a faraway land, where magic exists. That's impossible," Ibiki tried to reason and Lucy looked up at him,

 _'Her eyes are more open and honest then what I have ever seen them. Until now I never noticed how brown they were or that they were full of light despite everything that she's been through,'_ Ibiki was thinking to himself,

"Ibiki, I don't want to lie so I'll just say this. I'm not crazy if that's what you're thinking and I don't have any proof other than the fact that I have different abilities and my memories of course," Lucy said as she stared at him, feeling more like herself then what she has felt in a long time, "my name is Lucy Heartfilia and I'm a celestial wizard of the Fairytail guild," Lucy said as she continued to look into his eyes and Ibiki found that he couldn't help but believe every word she said, "if you are able to look into my mind like Inoichi then I can show you that I'm not lying," _'if he can't then I just hope he doesn't lock me in a mental asylum,'_ Lucy thought the last part to herself,

"I cannot," was all Ibiki was able to say _, 'she can't be, that's impossible,'_

"Will you listen to what I have to say then? Ibiki?" Lucy asked quietly and Ibiki nodded his head unable to say anything. Lucy leads him into the forest that she took Naruto in yesterday but continued past the campsite and went straight to the river, she walked along the river until they came to a waterfall. In case someone was to come across them they wouldn't hear over the sound of falling water unless they were close enough for one of them to sense them,

"Well I guess I should start with how it's possible, or at least how my world works," Lucy started,

"Your world?" Ibiki questioned and Lucy sighed before nodding,

"Yes, you see there are many worlds and dimensions, this is just one of them. In the world that I come from, there are no ninjas and no one knows about the existence of chakra. Instead, we have wizards and magic power, otherwise known as ethernano. It's a part of everyday life, instead of electricity we use ethernano to power things. Some people use it only for those purposes but some others like me devote their life to practicing magic, magic power and chakra are very similar in many ways. It's very difficult to distinguish the two which is why I'm always practicing my chakra control, anyways, the only way to use magic is if the energy inside of your body and the energy of nature are completely synchronized. Which is why people need to devote their lives to it or they would never get anywhere using it," by this time Lucy looked towards Ibiki and found that he was listening intently, soaking up the information like a sponge,

"Do you understand what magic is so far?" Lucy questioned,

"I think so, basically it's like a more complicated version of chakra, everything and everyone has it but only those that study it can use it effectively," Ibiki responded and Lucy nodded,

"Now here's where things get fun, those that devote their lives to wizardry can join these things called guilds, they're like mini ninja villages. It's a place for people to go to exchange information and get work by completing jobs using their magic, I'll go more into the work later though. Anyway, a lot of guilds are more like a family and I belonged to a guild called Fairytail, the mark on my hand is the Fairytail emblem it's like wearing a villages forehead protector. Fairytail is my family and I'm trying to get back to them somehow, but I haven't figured out how I even got here let alone how to get back," Lucy looked down trying to hold back tears and Ibiki was overwhelmed by the amount of information that he just got told. After Lucy got control of her tears she looked up to see Ibiki trying to process everything, "would you like me to continue or would you like to talk more tomorrow?" Lucy questioned a little worried,

"I would appreciate it off we could pick this up again tomorrow," Ibiki said as he stood up and Lucy nodded before following his actions,

"Ibiki you know why neither of us can say anything about this, right?" Lucy questioned him and Ibiki sighed, ran a hand down his face tiredly before nodding his head, "I'm sorry to put so much pressure on you Ibiki," Lucy apologised, "I've just wanted to tell someone for so long that I jumped at the chance without thinking about the toll it would take on you," Lucy said and sniffed, Ibiki froze not knowing what to do with a crying girl, "I haven't even told you half of what I needed to yet," at this Ibiki started to internally panic,

 _'There's more and why is she crying? Do I even believe what she's saying? I can't find any traces of lies in her voice or on her face but this can't all be true can it?'_ Ibiki thought and Lucy sniffed in once again before turning to look at him with a watery smile,

"I'm just so glad that you believe me," Lucy continued to smile even as water was pouring out of her eyes and it looked like the world had been lifted off of her shoulders, Ibiki just looked at her for a moment and couldn't help but eventually smile,

"Of course I do,"

By the time they reached the town Lucy's eyes had dried but her smile was still on her face and she was practically skipping down the street, laughing she turned to Ibiki and said, "you know you look really creepy when you smile Ibiki," after she said that she started running in the direction of Kakashi's house with Ibiki chasing after her yelling about how much of a brat she is. That night she had the most peaceful sleep that she's had in a long time.

 **Time Skip**

A week later Lucy had finally told Ibiki everything up until the point where she fell out of the sky and Ibiki had yet to tell a soul about it, he promised that he wouldn't unless he thought it necessary. Kakashi has gotten suspicious about the time that Lucy has been spending with Ibiki but didn't want to stand in the way of it, Naruto was also concerned about the 'scary man' that he had seen with her lately but Lucy paid no mind to any of it, she had finally told someone everything and had nothing bad happen as of yet.

Ibiki had a theory that the key that transported her here was very similar to that of her gate keys but it was specifically made for certain people, otherwise someone else in the area that she was in would have gotten caught up with her. Lucy didn't like the theory of someone specifically wanting her in this world but it was all she really had to go on.

While she's been trying to activate her dojutsu again, doing more research on medical ninjutsu and filling Ibiki in on everything Lucy hasn't had any time to look into anything else on how to get back to Earth Land or even how to create a link between the two worlds yet, Ibiki said that he would keep an eye out for anything about interdimensional travel but other than that he has to work.

Once again Lucy had her nose in a book, resting after having spent all day trying to use her dojutsu again. This time with the use of her Gale-force glasses and Crux, he had finally finished his break and she requested his help. Because Kakashi knows about her spirits Crux is currently floating in the air above her searching through his archives. Kakashi walked into the lounge room to see her reading at impossible speeds and a cross floating in the air snoring loudly, blinking at the sight before shrugging his shoulders and sitting down on another side of the couch to read his book. As Lucy closed her book Crux woke up with a yell and Kakashi dropped his book in surprise,

"Have you found anything Grampa Crux?" Lucy moved too soon her knees,

"Indeed I have miss Lucy, with all of the readings that I have done on Kekkei Genkai, dojutsu and the knowledge that I have of your family I have concluded that the only way for you to have a dojutsu would be if one of your ancestors had one. I have also concluded that the dojutsu that you described has yet to be recorded in the history of this world, you may be the first one to have one like this," Lucy sighed, she was hoping that her suspicions were wrong,

"Thank you Grampa Crux, is there anything that might be able to help progress my use of the dojutsu?"

"Hmmm, I'm afraid that I have no knowledge that could help you at this time, you'll have to discover the limits of it on your own," Crux said as he started snoring again,

"Looks like he's searching for you again," Kakashi points out after seeing the disappointed look on her face,

"No he's just sleeping," Lucy said nonchalantly and Kakashi's visible eye bulges out,

"Huh?"

Lucy frowned in thought, she was going to need to activate her dojutsu to test its limits but she still hasn't been able to. Kakashi described her eyes as a golden glow when it's activated and not even a speck of gold is taking place,

"Hey Kakashi, would you like to spar with me?" Lucy asked suddenly looking up at him and Kakashi was silent for a moment,

"Spar?"

"Yes, I think it could help with activating my dojutsu," Lucy said,

"Okay but there needs to be a couple of rules, first no equipping your spirits powers, second no summons will be allowed and third no high ranking jutsus," Kakashi said sternly and Lucy sighed at knowing she couldn't try out any of the water jutsus that she's learnt recently,

"Fine, but what exactly do you consider a high-rank jutsu?" Lucy relented to his rules,

"A rank or above," at this Lucy frowned,

"So you're basically telling me that I'm limited to the Academy stuff?" Lucy expressed angrily,

"You can use taijutsu and any weapon that you want," Kakashi tried to reason, "these rules apply to me as well you know,"

"You're just making these rules because you're lazy aren't you?" Lucy accused him angrily as Kakashi for up and walked towards the back door,

"You said it not me," he expressed boredly and Lucy angrily stomped after him as he made his way to the training grounds. On the way Lucy thought about a way to beat Kakashi and activate her dojutsu, killing two birds with one stone. Their fight was mainly going to be taijutsu based as well as tracking and trapping, she couldn't summon Gemini as a distraction and any clone above an illusion was too high a rank. Kakashi would be able to easily see through any illusion that she threw at him, not that she had many, to begin with anyway.

Taijutsu was basically all she had to win this fight and Lucy knew that if she couldn't win against Gai then she wouldn't win against Kakashi, especially if he decided to put in some effort, "damn it," Lucy whispered to herself as she tried to think of a strategy. Kakashi looked down at her as she said this and noticed how hard she was thinking; he couldn't help but smile at how serious she was taking this. Secretly though he set up those rules because if he didn't he probably wouldn't be able to win against Lucy, he's seen her fight first hand and while she wouldn't go full out against him he also knows that she would find some way to make him give in, especially fighting alongside her summons. Lucy has a special connection with them, it's almost like they can read each other's minds.

Once they reached the training grounds Lucy summoned her weapons and strapped then onto her body since she asks Virgo to store them away, technically that would be using her spirits. Quickly scanning the area Lucy started thinking about traps to set up and places to hide, looking back at Kakashi she saw him holding up two bells.

"The fourth rule is that you have to take these bells from me, using anything in your knowledge or arsenal that doesn't break the previous rules that I mentioned earlier," Lucy got into her fighting stance at those words and without another thought, threw several kunai at him but he caught all of them and sent them back to her. Jumping out of the way she didn't notice that he ended up behind her until he started speaking, "I didn't even get to say start yet," he said to her humorously, Lucy turned to look at him with wide eyes before adding chakra to all of her senses, "and begin,"

Lucy jumped back at this and brought her halberd in front of her for defense, she couldn't send a clone out to set up traps and she couldn't have a spirit do it the only way she could possibly catch him off guard would be in hand to hand combat but she just saw how fast he is and she knows he's still holding back. If they had really faced off in the forest of death, there was no way she could have won against him even if she was at full strength. Making a quick decision Lucy took off her weights that she had kept on and watched them fall to the ground, all four of them made small dents in the ground from how much weight has been added into them over the years that she's been in this world.

Kakashi swallowed when he saw the weights land on the ground and realised that she had kept them on during her mission, if she could fight like that with them on how would she fight without them? At this thought, Kakashi put his hand to his forehead protector and pulled up the side that was covering his eye, revealing the Sharingan.


	11. Chapter 11

Lucy tensed as she saw Kakashi's red eye, she still didn't exactly know what it was but she narrowed it down to being the Sharingan, she just didn't know how it worked. All she knew is that it's a dojutsu of the leaf village, so she's going to need to test out what it can do, which is easier said than done considering she doesn't know Kakashi's limits without him using it. All she knows is that Gai-sensei challenges him to almost everything and continues to do so until he beats him, so clearly, Kakashi is more skilled then what she's used to facing and Axal called him the Copy ninja of Konoha. If only she knew what that meant when she would have some kind of idea on how to one-up him.

Taking a deep breath Lucy looked at him with determination, he wouldn't have revealed his dojutsu so soon unless he felt like he would need it. This means that she's already shaken him up a little but this also meant that his guard was up more than usual, so getting him to drop it would be that much harder if at all possible. Since it was a Taijutsu based battle Lucy stood firmly and patiently waiting for him to make to the first move, however, Kakashi was doing the same waiting for Lucy to attack.

Lucy began to grow impatient and was having trouble not showing it, however, Kakashi was just standing there looking bored, "are you going to move?" he asked, his tone full of humour because he knew what she was trying and failing to do. Lucy took a deep breath and prepared herself to use the substitution jutsu, something she hasn't done in a long time. Gathering chakra into the bottoms of her feet she pushed herself off and swung her halberd straight at Kakashi's head and Kakashi ducked down just in time.

 _'That would if hit me if it weren't for the Sharingan,'_ Kakashi thought to himself and swung out his leg in an attempt to trip Lucy over. She back flipped over his leg, jumped back once again and threw two shurikens at him as she did. Kakashi dodged the first shuriken but the second shuriken cut the sleeve of his shirt and Lucy started to think.

 _'The second one just missed slightly, it wasn't even a hair strands width away from him. Was it just luck? What does the Sharingan actually do?'_ with all of these thoughts running through her head, Lucy almost got hit with a kunai. Lucy grabbed it by its handle as it went past her head and threw it and several other kunai's back at him. Kakashi closed his right eye and kept the Sharingan out. He pulled out a kunai and used it to deflect all of the kunai that Lucy had thrown at him before Kakashi could retaliate Lucy jumped into the nearby forest, suppressed her chakra and hid in the trees.

 _'Think I've figured out how the Sharingan works, it increases his eyes sight so that he can see what's happening the second it happens, which is why he could dodge and repel my attacks. Then why did he get hit with one of my shurikens?'_ Lucy thought to herself, _'if he can see things as its happening then why did my shuriken cut his clothes? Why did he have to close one of his eyes to deflect my attack?'_ Lucy put a hand to her chin as she immersed herself in her thoughts not noticing her opponent silently watching her from above her, _'what else is the Sharingan a capable of, I mean that can't be it or else it wouldn't be one of the most powerful dojutsu that's known. I've seen it glow once, yeah, back in the forest of death right before I felt him trying to put me under a genjutsu. So it can cause powerful genjutsu, which is completely useless to him right now so I don't have to worry about it,'_ Lucy relaxed slightly at that thought but grumbled to herself in frustration because this doesn't help her in finding his weakness,

"He has to have a weakness of some kind, what am I missing?" Lucy mumbled to herself, _'increase of eyesight, genjutsu ability, speed, ninjutsu type, accuracy in aim, practically a genius. He's almost invincible, there has to be something that he can't do or that prohibits him in some way. Wait a minute, he's nicknamed the copy ninja right, so what's the copying? Movements? Maybe but from what I just saw with the shuriken his body needs to already have the capability,'_ Lucy was starting to get frustrated, "gah, what am I missing?" Lucy yelled out as she stood up and kicked a tree stump and destroyed it,

 _'He's a ninjutsu type so does he copy ninjutsu? I'm a ninjutsu type and all I need is to know how to do one jutsu in that chakra nature and then learning the rest is as easy as making toast. So having the ability to copy ninjutsu and having that ability come naturally would make you quite infamous. So he can cast genjutsu, has increased eyesight and copying abilities, how the hell can I beat that?'_ Lucy sighed as she sat on the ground once again, "why does he only have it in one eye? And how come he closes the other eye when completing actions?" Lucy said out loud and Kakashi stiffened from his place in the tree.

Kakashi threw a kunai at her from above and jumped into another tree, Lucy moved her head just in time for the attack _, 'that was too close, she's almost figured it out,'_ Kakashi thought to himself as he deflected another set of kunai that Lucy threw at him. Lucy noticed that his breathing was slightly deeper than when she last saw him and her eyes widened slightly before she tried to cover it up.

Lucy grabbed her whip that was strapped to her waist and activated its extendable abilities and swung it in Kakashi's direction, Kakashi jumped out of the way but was surprised to find that the whip followed him. Lucy kept swinging the whip in his direction with her right hand and was throwing kunai and shuriken at him with her left. Kakashi's movements began to get a little slower and his actions became sloppy as time went on, noticing this Lucy gathered chakra into her feet and pushed herself towards him. Kakashi saw this but was unable to move out of the way and Lucy crashed into his stomach knocking the wind out of him and he fell onto his back. Quickly scrambling to get the bells off of his waist before he recovered and sat up in her spot in triumph, which just happened to be on Kakashi's stomach with her legs on one side of him. Lucy grinned down at Kakashi smugly as she watched him try to catch his breath and he pulled his forehead protector back down to cover his Sharingan.

"You know I was worried that I would never find out your weakness but after figuring out how the Sharingan works and how you're connected to it, it wasn't that hard," Lucy bragged as she threw the bells in the air and caught them in her hand,

"What do you mean figure out how it works? Are you saying you didn't know what the Sharingan was until now?" Kakashi questioned in disbelief,

"Well, I knew that it was a powerful dojutsu of the leaf but that's about it," Lucy said as she stood up from Kakashi's stomach and held her hand out to him,

"So how did you figure out my weakness?"

"Like I said it wasn't all that hard, first I figured out how the Sharingan works and its abilities. Then I had to ask myself why you only had it in one eye, why you had to cover it up all of the time and why it was always activated. I figured you weren't born with it so then I needed to figure out what all dojutsu had in common when I used my dojutsu it used up mass amounts of chakra, so much so that I passed out. If that happens to someone who's born with one what could happen to someone who wasn't and I know that you pass out a lot after missions because Gai mentioned it once or twice. With that, I concluded that your weakness is stamina," Lucy explained to him rather proud of herself as they walked out of the training grounds and towards Kakashi's place.

"So how did I do?" Lucy asked on their way back, skipping down the street,

"Very well Lucy, I'm impressed that you figured all of that out in such a short amount of time," Kakashi said as he ruffled her hair and Lucy pouted as she tried to fix it, even though it was already a mess from the fight. Lucy giggled as she climbed up on the stone wall beside Kakashi and began walking on it like she did to the one in Magnolia. Placing one foot in front of the other with her arms out for balance, humming as she made her way forward on the stone wall.

"My eternal rival," Lucy heard Gai call out from behind them,

"Oh no," Kakashi said under his breath and Lucy giggled at his reaction,

"Eternal rival and the young, youthful Lucy, to where are you heading?" Gai said as he skidded in front of Kakashi and struck a dramatic pose,

"We were just heading back home, Kakashi and I were just at the training grounds," Lucy explained and tried to make her way forward after seeing the exhausted look Kakashi had in his eye,

"My, my, a challenge perhaps? And who came out successful my youthful flower?" Lucy saw no harm in replying to him excitedly despite seeing Kakashi shake his head, no.

"I did, see, I got these bells from Kakashi," Lucy grinned and held up two bells that she still hadn't given back. Kakashi groaned and snatched them out of her hand and put them into his pocket,

"That's the spirit, you're so full of youth my student," Gai cried out as tears of joy came rolling down his face, "how did you do it?" he asked as he got onto his knees and begged her to tell him,

"I can't tell you that, you're his rival after all," Lucy declared,

"Gai we have to go now," Kakashi interrupted before anything else could be said and tried to drag Lucy away,

"No, I challenge you Kakashi to a match right here right now," Gai dramatically said,

"I bet I could get him away," Lucy whispered to Kakashi,

"Go ahead and try, I've never been able to do it," Kakashi whispered back,

"Hey, Gai, I just saw a bundle of youthfulness go around that corner," Lucy declared and pointed to a corner that was a couple of blocks away in the opposite direction of Kakashi's place. Kakashi slapped his head in disbelief, there was no way that was going to work. Suddenly Gai took off in that direction excitedly, "I honestly didn't think that that would work," Lucy said,

"Let's just go before he comes back," Kakashi said and started pushing Lucy in the direction of his house with a sweat drop going down his face. Once they both for back Lucy called shotgun on the shower and ran up to take one quickly. Quickly finishing her shower Lucy went back down the stairs to relax her sore muscles on the couch when she saw Kakashi reading a letter. Lucy sat on the other side of the couch startling Kakashi,

"The Hokage wants to see you tomorrow," Kakashi said as he got over his shock, Lucy groaned and dramatically slid off of the couch.

"Did he say why?" Lucy asked from her place on the ground,

"Not exactly," was Kakashi's short reply,

"Meaning you do know but you can't tell me,"

"That's what I said," Lucy groaned at Kakashi's reply and started walking to her room to go to bed.

 _'Well nothing happened with my dojutsu today, I was hoping that instinct would take over and that it would come out during the fight with Kakashi but I guess I didn't feel like I was in any immediate danger,'_ Lucy thought as she lay in bed, sighing she turned onto her side and fell asleep.

Lucy was walking to the Hokages office alone and lost in her thoughts. So much has happened since she's been in Konoha trust has been lost and new trust has been established, she's even told someone about earth land. Lucy doesn't know what to make of the Hokage though, she's sure he's a nice person but he's too forthcoming when it comes to the safety of the village. Which does she suppose she can understand but what happened to second chances? Breaking out of her thoughts when she realised that she was at the Hokage tower she started climbing up the endless staircase and knocked on the door to the Hokages office once she reached it.

Hearing the old and tired voice telling her to come in Lucy slowly opened the door only to see the room full of people. Some she recognised as the Jonins of Konoha and one Jonin that she hasn't met yet as well as a lot of old people sitting at a table that was placed beside the Hokage. Considering where they were sitting Lucy concluded that they were the elders of the village,

"Am I interrupting something?" Lucy asked cautiously, hoping that that was the case and that she wasn't in trouble,

"Not at all Child, the village elders would just like to meet you and I was hoping to clarify somethings today," the Hokage stated gently,

"What type of things? if I may ask," Lucy stated uncomfortably, trying to keep herself from squirming away from the greedy eyes of everyone in the room,

"Just a small paper test, we need to know how much you know about the ninja world and the hidden leaf village but before that you should a quaint yourself with the everyone here," the Hokage stated and once he was finished Kakashi came over to her and dragged her to the Jonins and introduced her to the one she hasn't met, well Asuma introduced her Kakashi started reading that orange book of his.

"Lucy, this is Kurenai Yuhi, she just got promoted to Jonin about a month ago," Asuma said as he pointed to a woman with black hair and red eyes, Kurenai held out her hand and Lucy reached out to shake it,

"It's nice to meet you Kurenai," Kurenai said that it was nice to meet her as well and noticed that both she and Asuma had light shades of red on their faces when they looked at each other. Lucy hid her smirk as she tugged on Kakashi's Jonin vest to pull him down so that she could whisper in his ear,

"Are Asuma and Kurenai a thing yet?" Kakashi chuckled at her question and shook his head no before looking at her to see her smirking deviously, he sighed and shook his head amusingly at her before returning to his book.

Lucy either didn't notice the village elders all looking at her judgingly or was ignoring them because they were all whispering quite loudly about her except for one. He had black spiky hair, two scars on his face and a triangular beard, he was walking over to where Lucy and the Jonins were talking amongst themselves,

"I don't believe we've met, I'm Shikaku Nara, head of strategy and tactics," he said holding out his hand for Lucy to shake,

"Nice to meet you I'm Lucy," she said shaking his hand, "head of tactics, you must have a high IQ for a position like that," Shikaku's chest swelled slightly hearing that and he started bragging slightly about his job, Lucy sweat dropped hearing him talk but listened anyway,

"We could have a game of shogi if you like?" Shikaku asked eager to show off, Lucy tilted her head slightly confused,

"What's shogi?" Lucy asked and Shikaku stood slightly shocked before stuttering out an explanation,

"Shogi a game that relies mostly on tactics. The object of the game is to capture the opponent's King. Each player has twenty pieces: one King, two Gold Generals, two Silver Generals, two knights, two Lances, one Rook, one Bishop and nine Pawns. They are differentiated only in direction: pieces pointing away from a player are his. The pieces lie flat on the board and have their name written on them," Shikaku continued his overly long explanation and Lucy listened intently, trying to make sense of the game without actually seeing a demonstration. So far it seemed straightforward, capture the opponent's king by using the pieces and their available movements.

As Shikaku explained how the pieces moved Lucy didn't notice that one elder, in particular, was looking at her with interest but Kakashi did and moved so that she was no longer in their line of sight. Kakashi continued to stare at his book but no longer read the page in front of him as he kept his guard up. The stares of interest changed into that of agitation as they could no longer see their target and with their eyes sent a silent warning to Kakashi who didn't seem to care for the said warning.

"Lucy I have the papers right here, would you like to come and start?" asked the Hokage from across the room as he held out some papers to her,

"Are there any limitations that I should be worrying about?" Lucy asked as she took the stack of papers that looked to be about 100 pages long,

"Only that you can only answer using the knowledge that you already have and that you cannot move out of your chair," the Hokage states simply, "there is no time limit however you will be timed," Lucy looked confused, why would she be timed if there was no limit? Shaking herself out of her thoughts Lucy looked towards the chair that was in front of the Hokages desk and moved to kneel in front of it, "wouldn't you rather a quiet room where you can be alone for this? Not to mention a table to write it?" the Hokage asked slightly surprised at where she intended to take her test as were all of the Jonins besides Kakashi,

"No need, this won't take long," Lucy replied simply as she pulled out her gale force glasses from her pocket and placed them on her head, the elders and some of the Jonins that didn't know Lucy very well started laughing, those that didn't just looked curious as to what she would do. Everyone turned silent as Lucy started to flip through the pages at an inhuman speed, taking in all of the questions and memerising each one of them. As the glasses were designed to do,

"You can't be serious, what exactly do you intend to do by flipping through the booklet? Remember everything in it?" an old woman's voice said loudly in the silent room,

"Pretty much," was Lucy's casual reply as she finished flipping through the book, turned back to the starting page and started writing in the answers as fast as she could. Not even 15 minutes later Lucy had finished the test and passed the booklet back to the Hokage, taking off her glasses, "there was one that I couldn't answer because it's subjective," Lucy explained,

"What do you mean?" the Hokage questions as he looks through the book,

"Well, there was a question around the start asking 'what is your purpose in being a ninja?' I'm guessing you want an answer like 'to protect the village,' or something similar but there are plenty of ways to protect the village you don't necessarily have to be a ninja. And if I'm being honest I was for the lack of a better word persuaded into being a ninja, I don't necessarily have a purpose in this profession," Lucy explained and Kakashi sighed at her explanation,

"Show off," Kakashi grumbled out loud enough for everyone to hear,

"Look who's talking, Mr. I've copied 1000 ninjutsu," Lucy said in a mocking tone and Kakashi laughed nervously rubbing the back of his head, the Jonins started laughing while the elders and Hokage were looking over Lucy's answers, "may I leave now?"

The Hokage nodded his head, "I'll send for you when it's been marked," at that Lucy made her way to the window and jumped out, "use the door," she heard the Hokage yell after her.

 **Time skip!**

Lucy was currently in the training grounds practicing her ninjutsu, something that she has been neglecting lately because of her medical ninjutsu training. She had managed to memorise all of the body parts and was now studying them in more depth. It wasn't as good as a medical degree but she has managed to heal minor cuts and bruises with the knowledge. However, Lucy was working on her wind style ninjutsu, something that was more difficult for her than water or lightning style. She also hasn't attempted to use earth style since the forest of death when she first came to the village hidden in the leaves.

"Wind style: halberd cutters," Lucy shouted out and swung her halberd in a diagonal direction and watched as a mark was left on the tree she aimed it towards. It wasn't very big and looked more like someone scratched it with a kunai, Lucy got frustrated and performed a water jutsu on the tree.

"Water style: water shark jutsu," Lucy shouted and jumped up and pushed her arms out towards the direction of the tree, when the water cleared the tree was knocked over, "That's more like it," she grumbled out but paused slightly in suspicion and looked around.

Lucy felt on edge, for a majority of the day she's felt like someone was watching her and thought that it was the Hokages ANBU but after a while not began to feel creepy, not like how it felt to be observed for professional purposes. This felt sloppy like they were trying to hide their presence but couldn't, at first she thought it was Naruto but he would've been a lot louder and his presence would have been very noticeable.

Taking a deep breath Lucy moved her chakra into her senses and pinpointed their location. Swiftly turning around to throw kunai and shuriken at the said person who was up in a tree a few yards away from her. Lucy heard a thump on the ground and got out her whip to tie the person up to the tree. Walking closer she could see that whoever it was, you could see that whoever it was, was struggling to try to get loose. "Who are you and why have you been following me?" Lucy asked firmly,

"Hmn," was their only reply.

"What do you mean, hm, answer me you damned brat," Lucy demanded with a tick mark on her head as she looked at the boy who looked to be about Naruto's age, he had raven hair and a sour look on his face. He stayed silent however and continued to glare at her, Lucy looked at him carefully, "okay then, see you around, maybe," with that Lucy turned around and started walking away leaving the boy tied to the tree by her extendable whip,

"You're just going to leave me here?" she heard his voice yell from behind her, it was quite smooth but had a high pitch sound to it when he pronounced his E's,

"Yeah, I mean you're a strange boy who's been following me all day. You won't tell me who you are or why you've been following me, for all I know you could be sadistic creep trying to drag me back to your pit," Lucy called back as she walked away, just as she was nearing the exit she heard him yell for her to wait. Slowly turning around but staying near the exit in case he said something she didn't like,

"Sasuke Uchiha," he grumbled out and Lucy had to strain to hear him, she started walking closer to him,

"Say again?"

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha," he said and then looked at her expectantly with a tired look,

"And you were following me because?" Lucy asked him, annoyed that he hadn't said so yet. Sasuke looked at her surprised for a moment before switching back to his ever so present glare,

"To observe," was his simple answer and Lucy got a tick mark on her head once again,

"Really I never would have guessed," she said sarcastically, "Why. Were. You. Observing. Me?" she emphasised each word and Sasuke's glare deepened,

"Because you're powerful," at this Lucy looked confused as well as concerned,

"Why does this matter to you?" she asked but wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer,

"Because if I'm going to achieve my goal I need power," he said slowly in a vengeful tone,

"If you think you can gain power just by stalking someone then you're stupid," Lucy said bluntly as she gathered her whip back up and stored it away before making her way out of the training grounds once again,

"Where are you going?" Sasuke yelled after her, he expected her to be impressed at his words or be flattered and offer to teach him,

"Home, I'm hungry and I'm annoyed because I've had a stupid little boy follow me around all day," was Lucy's reply as she walked away from the now fuming raven headed boy. On her way back to Kakashi's place Lucy thought about the look in Sasuke's eyes and decided that walking away from him was the right choice. With that look she didn't want to fuel his vengeful streak, maybe if he was looking for strength instead of power she would have hoped him but with the way, he said 'power' it was like he was hungry. Hungry for something that Lucy didn't want to serve to the table.

 _'If I bump into him again maybe I could help him out. If he asks instead of just expecting it, the brat,'_ Lucy thought to herself as she walked through the door of Kakashi's place and threw herself onto the couch,

"Hey Lucy," Kakashi said to her not looking up from his book, all he got in reply though was a loud groan, "what happened?" he asked and this time peaked at her from over the top of his book,

"I hate boys," was Lucy's reply and Kakashi froze in shock,

"Umm, wha-what do you mean?" he stuttered out, afraid of having any conversation with Lucy about his gender,

"They're just stupid, why do you look so pale Kakashi?" Lucy asked as she looked up at him,

"N-no reason," he said and cleared his throat, "so um, in what way are they stupid?" he asked hoping that this wasn't heading to where he thinks it is,

"A boy that looked to be about 10 years old was following me around today when I called him out on it because it was creepy he had the gall to be rude and disrespectful. The nerve," Lucy ranted on and Kakashi let out a sigh of relief,

 _'Thank god she isn't interested in boys yet, what am I going to do when she does like a boy?_ ' Kakashi thought to himself as he watched Lucy talk about the rude boy from her day, _'worst case scenario I can just kill him and the problem goes away,'_ Kakashi smirked at his thoughts on how to solve this future problem,

"Hey, Kakashi," Lucy said loudly and Kakashi broke out from his thoughts,

"Hmm?" Kakashi grunted to let her know that he heard her,

"What's in that book that you like to read so much?" Kakashi once again froze, not knowing what to say to her,

"Nothing, it's really not that interesting," he said trying to be nonchalant, waving her off,

"But you read it all of the time, I never see you without it. So it's got to be interesting in some way," Lucy said and tried to take the book off of Kakashi,

"It's not interesting for children Lucy," Kakashi said as he lifted the book up and out of her reach and Lucy started to get suspicious,

"I read plenty of books that aren't interesting for normal children," she said slowly and Kakashi started to sweat, "what are you trying to hide Kakashi,"

"N-nothing, it's just an adult book that's all," Lucy froze and then put a disgusted look on her face,

"So you're the type to read that stuff in public huh," Lucy said accusingly and started to back away from him slowly. Kakashi realising what he just said tried to amend his mistake,

"N-no that's not what I meant," he tried to explain but Lucy kept inching away from him,

"You know what I should never have asked, umm I've got to go and uhm clean something," with that Lucy jumped up off of the couch with her face bright red and ran up to her room. Kakashi was sat frozen on the couch and had his hand out from when he attempted to put a hand on Lucy's shoulder, then he suddenly hunched his shoulders and had dramatic tears streaking down his face.

Up in her room, the Lucy's face was still red, _'Kakashi is a total pervert, reading that stuff in front of people what is he thinking? At least he's not stripping like Gray, or making stupid innuendos like Cana but reading porn out in the open?'_ Lucy's face flushed bright red once again, she was always very shy when it came to this stuff. Lucy may wear revealing clothing, she's even seen Gray naked before (who hasn't) but she's never had a boyfriend or even a first kiss, just a couple of dates _. 'I'm never going to be able to look Kakashi in the eye again,'_ Lucy thought embarrassingly before grabbing her pillow in a hug and shoving her face into it, hoping to hide how red it was.

 **Time skip next day**

Lucy quietly made her way down the stairs hoping to sneak out the door unnoticed, she was still embarrassed about yesterday.

"Lucy, want some breakfast?" Kakashi asked as he saw her walk past the kitchen quietly and Lucy jumped in surprise at his voice,

"No, t-that's okay I was just leaving," Lucy said not looking Kakashi in the eye before racing out of the door,

"O-okay," Kakashi said quietly in the now empty house before looking down at the kitchen table with a frown.

Lucy ran the entire way to the dango stand to get some sweet tea, her face was still bright red as she sipped her tea but she was pulled out of her thoughts by someone calling her from behind,

"Hello Lucy, nice to see you again," looking behind her she saw Kurenai and Asuma walking towards her,

"Hey, Kurenai, Asuma, are you guys on a date?" she asked then mischievously, knowing that if Mira could see her she would be proud. Both of them blushed faintly and stuttered out a reply,

"N-no we just b-bumped into e-each other on the w-way," Kurenai said waving her arms out in front of her. Asuma cleared his throat,

"What about you? You looked kind of flustered when we came in," Asuma stated and Lucy flushed red again. She played with her fingers as she whispered her reply,

"I just found out what Kakashi's always reading," Lucy's face got red as Asuma let out a loud laughed and Kurenai giggled a little bit, "I'm so embarrassed I wished I'd never found out," Lucy cried out and put her hands over her face,

"You know instead of being embarrassed you could think of this as an opportunity," Asuma said as he sat down next to her. Lucy took her hands away from her face and looked at him confused, "you know, to mess with him, publically embarrass him. That sort of thing," Lucy suddenly smirked and threw down the required money to pay for her tea and ran out with a quick thank you.

"Kakashi is going to kill you," Kurenai said to him after Lucy left,

"I know, I'm already regretting it," he groaned out and turned to order some dango.

Lucy wondered just how much those books meant to Kakashi, she was laughing to herself as she ran through the village, thinking of everything she could do all of the new possibilities. Lucy wondered if she should tell Naruto as well because he comes up with great pranks but decided against it. Kakashi already had his hands full with her, she didn't want to give the guy a stroke or something.

Once Lucy got to the front door of Kakashi's place she made her face go slightly red again and started acting the way she did before to keep him from being suspicious. Walking inside she found Kakashi in the lounge room reading his perverted book and flushed for real this time, sitting as far away from him as she could on the couch she got out her own book and started reading. After a few minutes, Kakashi looked up and noticed Lucy sitting on the far side of the couch. He scrambled to sit up properly and made sure to hide his book behind his back, although it was pointless because she already saw it, "Lucy, you're back. How has your day been?"

"It was okay," she said not looking at him, Kakashi sighed,

"Lucy, we should talk about this," Kakashi said and Lucy turned towards him,

"What do we need to talk about? You're a pervert, end of the discussion," Lucy said and turned around so that her back was facing him so he couldn't see that she was trying to hide a smile. Kakashi dramatically hunched his shoulders and tried to explain,

"It's not a dirty book, it's a masterpiece," at this Lucy cringed for real,

 _'just how perverted is he?'_ Lucy thought to herself, "sure," she drones out in disbelief,

"I'm serious, it's a piece written by one of the legendary Sannin of Konoha. He's a true artist," Kakashi said as he pulled out the book and help it up,

"Prove it," Lucy said bluntly,

"W-what?" Kakashi replied dumbly,

"Prove that it's not a dirty book and read some of it, out loud," Lucy said and turned around to face him. Kakashi's face started to turn red underneath his mask and Lucy caught sight of it. She smirked and pressed on, "come on if it's really a masterpiece you shouldn't keep it to yourself,"

At this Kakashi started to sweat, "it's still not an appropriate for kids," Kakashi tried,

"Is it violent?" she asked him,

"N-not really,"

"Is there swearing?"

"Yes, lots of swearing," Kakashi shouted out in excitement, glad to find something,

"Oh really? At which parts?" at this Kakashi got red all over again, "pervert," Lucy scoffed and got up to go to her room trying to keep herself from laughing as she went.

All week Lucy had been making snide comments to Kakashi about him being a pervert, every time he tried to convince her that he wasn't she turned it back around on him. She could see that this was started to affect Kakashi, so she decided to ease up on him for a bit.

Lucy was also still being followed by Sasuke, it was rather annoying. It was times like these that Lucy wished that she knew how to cast Genjutsu. This was also attracting attention from girls that were apparently obsessed with him, they always gave her glares and sent her the darkest of looks but they never did anything because they had seen her walking around with Kakashi and sometimes Ibiki. There was one bleach blonde girl, in particular, that seemed to glare daggers at Lucy but Lucy always left her alone because she hasn't done anything more, yet.

Lucy's medical ninjutsu training had also improved if only slightly, she could now heel cuts and wounds that would usually require stitches. She would probably never be as good as Wendy but she could help in an emergency. Lucy always thought about what would happen when she finally returned home, would she still be able to use chakra? The only reason why she can still use magic is that ethernano is still produced somehow in the air but at such a slow rate that people are not born with it. It made her wonder if chakra was produced on earth land at all. Thinking about all of this made her look back at the conversation that she had with Crux a while ago, her body doesn't absorb enough ethernano for her to actively use in battle. It's causing symptoms similar to that of magic deficiency syndrome and it's concerning Lucy and her spirits.

Lucy has yet to figure out how to store ethernano into objects for emergencies, no matter how much she tried the ethernano would always be released back into the atmosphere. When Lucy told Ibiki of her problem he was worried because there is no way for him to help her with this problem, nor is there any way that nurses could help her either. Ibiki said that if it came to the point where it threatened her life he would have to tell someone about where she really comes from and that scared Lucy more than it should. What if Naruto found out that all of the stories that she told him were true if slightly exaggerated for dramatic effect. Would he hate her? Look at her differently? Not trust her anymore? Not to mention what Kakashi would do, he might have her locked up for being crazy or worse. Kakashi may also hate her for not telling him, he is pretty sensitive to the topic. Would the Hokage use her for some freaky war plan? Would Orochimaru piggyback a ride to Earth Land when she finally goes back? All of these thoughts plagued her mind and worried her. Kakashi was beginning to see the bags that had started to show up underneath her eyes and Naruto kept on asking her what was wrong. They were worried about her and she was lying to them. How would she tell them? Could she ever tell them?

Lucy shook herself of her drowning thoughts as she tripped over something, picking herself up from the ground she looked at what she tripped over and saw that it was actually a boy with black hair and looked a lot like Shikaku, lying on the ground, "I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention," she hurried out as she bowed apologetically,

"What a drag," the boy drawled out from his place on the grass, then sat up slowly like it took his whole being to bring himself to do it, "women are so troublesome," at this Lucy got a tick mark on her forehead,

"Oh really?" she rhetorically asked annoyed, the mini Shikaku didn't answer only turned his gaze towards the sky and stared at it dumbly, "I'm Lucy Heartfilia it's nice to meet you," Lucy introduced herself and stuck her hand out for him to shake it but he didn't, he only continued to stare up at the sky,

"Don't take it personally he's always like that," someone said from behind her and Lucy turned to look at a particularly plump boy that was munching on a bag of chips, "I'm Choji Akimichi and that's Shikamaru Nara, it's nice to meet you," Lucy smiled at him,

"Lucy Heartfilia," she said politely in reply, "wait you mean Nara as in Shikaku Nara?" Lucy asked and Shikamaru looked over at her,

"You know my dad?" he drones out and Lucy nodded,

"If I'm being honest I've only met him once but he seems nice, a bit obsessed with this game called shogi though," Lucy said,

"So you're the girl that doesn't know what shogi is? My dad mentioned you at dinner not too long ago," Shikamaru said,

"I should think so; I've never even heard of it until Shikaku tried to explain it to me. Don't really understand still,"

"What a drag, follow me," Shikamaru said and got up slowly before he started to walk in the direction of the town with Lucy and Choji following him. Shikamaru kept walking until he got to what looked like a traditional family home with a forest surrounding the backyard, "I'm home," he formed out as he walking through the door with Choji following him closely and Lucy was currently talking off her shoes in order to go inside.

"Ahh Shikamaru, Choji this is earlier than usual what brings you here?" a familiar voice called out to them and Lucy rounded the corner that the boys had just gone passed to see who it was,

"Shikaku, it's nice to see you again," Lucy said once she realised who it was,

"Lucy, it seems like you've met my son," Shikaku said smiling and Lucy nodded her head,

"Dad, Lucy still doesn't know what shogi is," Shikamaru stated bluntly like it was going to explain their whole reason for being here. Shikaku nodded his head and got out a board and a wooden box and set them on the table.

"Let's teach her then," Shikaku states as he starts setting up the board and Shikamaru sits in front of him to start playing.

 **Fairytail POV (finally)**

It's been 2 years and 3 months since Lucy disappeared and Natsu still hasn't stopped looking. He's officially taking a break from the team until he 'gets his partner back,' Happy spends all of his time helping Natsu or eating fish. Though both boys have eased up on the obsessive searching when Mira made a compelling argument of 'you don't want to look like Gray with those droopy eyes when you finally get to see her again, do you?' While Gray was not happy with this it did get Natsu to take shorter missions and start having full nights of sleep again.

Natsu walked into the guild and grabbed another job off of the board and went to Mira to get it signed off.

"Natsu," he heard a petite voice call out and saw Levy walking towards him with Gajeel in tow, "I might have found a lead on Lucy, may we join you?"

Natsu smiled his regular toothy grin, "Let's go," he shouted and ran towards the doors and headed towards the train station with a smiling Levy and grumbling Gajeel following behind him.

 **End Fairytail POV**

Lucy was currently playing her first game of shogi against Shikamaru when Choji was sitting by and watching while eating bags of chips. Both Lucy and Shikamaru were struggling to gain the upper hand, Shikamaru had never played against someone like Lucy before and Lucy had never played period.

 _'Come on Lucy, you were trained by the Fairy Tactician, Fairytail's first master. However briefly, you can beat a kid at shogi. Let's see, if I move here I'll get taken by the knight, if I move here his bishop can move into check. I can see why a tactician would like these types of games but I'm not that type of tactician. I solve problems on the go not plan for war before the first battle takes place,'_ Lucy thought to herself sweating, _'for Mavis sakes, how can I beat a family of ninja tacticians at shogi?'_ Lucy then paused her at those thoughts, _'I'm not a ninja tactician, I'm a wizard tactician and I need to start acting like one,'_ with this in mind Lucy relaxed and made her move. Shikamaru was shocked to see her move, it was an obvious move that created a lot of possibilities for him.

Shikamaru quickly made his move and Lucy saw that he moved his silver general or Gin and attacked Lucy's golden general or Kin. Golden Generals were mostly used for defense while Silver Generals were used to attacking, ' _he took the bait,_ ' Lucy thought to herself but kept her face the same. Lucy almost laughed to herself when she realised what she was doing in the beginning since when do Fairytail members stay on the defensive? Never, they attack head-on, give it their all and end with a bang.

10 minutes later the game ended a d Lucy had her Pawns lined up in front of Shikamaru's King trapping him from moving while using her leftover Knight to place him in check, her Rook and Bishop placed in spots that would still place Shikamaru's King in check if he moved. Shikamaru was looking at the board in disbelief and so was Choji,

"I didn't even realise it was happening," Shikamaru said at this moment Shikaku walked in and saw the board,

"She beat you huh? How did she surround you like that though?" He questioned and all three boys looked towards Lucy,

"I decided to take a risk and disregard my defense pieces, when Shikamaru moved to take them I would then use my next move to place a Pawn in the correct spot before starting the process over again, he didn't even realise that I also placed my Knight, Bishop and Rook in certain places until I moved my last Pawn," Lucy explained her strategy and looked up to see the looks on the boy's faces, Shikaku looked at her, not in amazement or impressed at what she'd done but in curiosity. The disregarding defense was risky and not a lot of people would take the risk, despite the fact that she won all of her defenses was captured while Shikamaru had a majority of his pieces, just not in the right spot to do anything to prolong the game.

Not long after that Lucy noticed how late it was getting and decided to go back to Kakashi's place before he started to worry, he was kind of strange when it came to things like that. Like he wanted to say something but didn't, she never pried but it was starting to get annoying. Shaking herself out of her thoughts Lucy came back to an empty house and thought that Kakashi had gone on a mission so she didn't question it.

"It's Naruto's birthday this weekend, I should do something for him," she said out loud and started making the preparations for it.

 **Time skip a few hours**

Lucy heard the door open and walked out to greet Kakashi but when she did he walked straight past her as if he didn't see nor hear her. He looked worried about something and Lucy decided to leave him alone for the moment and went to make dinner. She decided to make simple rice balls and a pot of green tea.

"Kakashi, dinners ready," Lucy said as she knocked on his door once she had finished in the kitchen.

"I'll eat something later," Kakashi called to her through the door.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine, just not hungry," at this Lucy frowned. Kakashi usually didn't feel hungry but ate dinner anyway because he rarely eats during the day unless Lucy forces him too.

"Have you eaten today?" Lucy questioned through the still closed door,

"I said I'll have something later," Kakashi snapped slightly,

"Kakashi, we both know that I'll make you eat. So why don't you make it easier for the both of us and come down for dinner?" Lucy tried once again, but Kakashi didn't respond.

Lucy huffed and walked back down into the kitchen to grab a small plate filled with rice balls and walked back up to Kakashi's room. "Kakashi if you don't open the door I'll open it myself," Once again Kakashi didn't say anything so Lucy pushed the door open and it fell against the wall with a loud bang. Kakashi jumped up started, he was laying on his bed on top of the covers reading his perverted book, seeing this Lucy grabbed a rice ball and made her way over to him.

Kakashi started to back away slightly, at this point Lucy jumped towards him and tried to pull down his mask to shove the rice ball into his mouth, "eat it," Lucy yelled as she continued to try and Kakashi held her up at arm's length underneath her shoulders.

"I said that I'd get some later," Kakashi yelled out as he pulled his face away from her little hands. Seeing as this wasn't getting her anywhere Lucy reached up and smudged the rice ball into his hair. Kakashi froze for a moment before slowly putting Lucy on the ground before walking towards the door to his room. Lucy was confused when he stopped at the door but then suddenly she had a rice ball thrown into her face. Kakashi was standing beside the door with the plate in his hands and Lucy looked panicked, she started to inch away from him and screamed when he lunged towards her.

By the time they had run out of rice balls both Lucy and Kakashi were covered in rice and were breathing heavily. Lucy toppled over onto Kakashi's bed and Kakashi was lying on the floor, "are you okay now, Kakashi?" Lucy asked in between breaths,

"Mostly," he answered, "I want to tell you something though," he said and Lucy sat upon Kakashi's bed as he took a seat beside her, "It's how I lost my teacher and then did something stupid," Kakashi explained and Lucy listened intently at what he was about to tell her.

"It was during the nine-tail attack on Konoha, this was just over a decade ago, the fourth Hokage and his wife had a child on this day. Someone came and released the Nine-tails from his seal though, no one is absolutely certain as to who. Anyway, the fourth Hokage protected the village to the best of his abilities but it didn't look like the beast was going to let up so Lord fourth sealed the beast inside of his newborn son," Lucy looked shocked at this, Naruto is the Fourth Hokages, son? And people still treat him that way, "during the fight, Lord Third ordered all of the younger generations of ninja to stay out if the fight to protect the future of the village. Both the Fourth Hokage and his wife died that night, from sealing away the nine-tailed beast inside of their child. The Fourth Hokage was my Genin teacher and after this, I became umm resentful towards the third Hokage for ordering the young ninja away from the fight."

At this point, Kakashi paused in thought before continuing on, "someone got into my head and played on these thoughts, convinced me that it would be better if the third Hokage didn't retake the seat of Hokage. This person convinced me to conspire against Lord third and sent me and a couple others to assassinate him, I had a change of heart and told Lord third about what was going on," Kakashi looked at Lucy after telling her this and she looked at him in concern, which shouldn't of surprised Kakashi, "Lucy I need you to promise me to stay away from that person," Kakashi suddenly said and grabbed Lucy by her shoulders,

"Who?" Lucy questioned,

"Danzo,"

"The bandaged up elder?" Lucy asked and Kakashi nodded, "If he's really behind it then why is he still an elder?"

"That doesn't matter at the moment, just promise me you'll stay away from him,"

"Has something happened Kakashi?"

"Just promise me, Lucy," Kakashi stressed,

"I promise," Lucy said hesitantly, at her words Kakashi sighed out in relief, "we should probably clean up," Lucy said as she looked around and saw rice all over the walls and carpet.


	12. Chapter 12

It was the day of Naruto's birthday and Lucy was running around making sure everything was ready, she had asked Iruka to distract him because it was a Saturday and he had no academy classes on. Lucy was currently baking his cake, she's spent all day trying to make it look like a bowl of ramen, with the chopsticks dangling noodles out of the bowl. Placing it into a carrier bag once she'd finished she started making her way over to Naruto's place with an extra bag of decorations and candles, she had to break in through Naruto's window because the door was locked and she didn't have a key. Lucy's lucky that Naruto is stupid or she'd never have gotten in. By the time everything was ready Lucy sent one of her tigers that decided to be a messenger, to Iruka to tell him that everything was all set. Iruka sent her one back saying that he'll send Naruto home after he's finished eating so Lucy closed the curtains and turned off the lights to wait for Naruto to return home. After an hour of waiting Lucy grew worried so she went to go find Iruka and saw him walking out of a weapons store, "Iruka wait," Lucy called out and ran to a stop in front of him,

"Ahh, Lucy I was just about to drop by to give Naruto his present. I didn't want to before in case it ruined the surprise. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Naruto?" Iruka said to her and Lucy grew even more concerned,

"You mean he's not with you?" Iruka's smile turned into a frown as she slowly shook his head,

"I'll look around to training grounds and in the forest," Lucy announced quickly thinking,

"I'll search the town," Iruka said and they both ran off to look for the blonde, birthday boy.

Lucy was running through the forest and heightened her senses, hearing shouts from in the distance she headed in that direction. Jumping from tree to tree, through the thick forest, avoiding branches and leaves. Lucy finally made it to where the endless shouting was coming from and was she saw brought tears to her eyes.

Naruto was on the ground all bloodied up and bruised, people that she recognised from the village were surrounding him. Throwing things and shouting horrible words. Lucy could hear her heart thumping, feeling the vibrations all the way to her ears then when she saw a man grab a whip she, her body moved on its own. She threw herself on Naruto and took the hit, her back stung and she felt a breeze on her stinging wound. The area became quiet and Naruto slightly looked up to see Lucy looking down at him,

"Are you okay, Naruto?" Lucy asked quietly, trying not to show him that she was in any pain when he nodded his head, his eyes full of surprise and wonder and she relaxed. Lucy stood up and took a deep breath, never had she felt such anger towards anyone, not even Orochimaru. Lucy clenched her fists to prevent her from lashing out and she turned around to face the crowd that was still staring at her. They all gasped when they saw her face, or more specifically her eyes. They were glowing a bright gold, her pupils had turned into stars and she had a vein at the side of each eye clearly visible. Lucy, however, did not notice this, she was too angry.

"What do you all think you're doing?" Lucy demanded of the crowd, some of them flinched at her tone but none of them looked regretful of what they've done, "I asked you a question," she yelled out when no one answered her. The man that had attempted to whip Naruto stepped forward,

"We were getting our revenge, why did you get in the way?" He yelled angrily, his spit flying everywhere and everyone nodded in agreement with his words. All this did was make her angrier,

"What exactly did he do so wrong? Huh? What could a little boy possibly do to all of you?" Lucy questioned by this point Naruto had passed out in exhaustion,

"That demon took our families from us, it took our loved ones and it needs to be killed," the man yelled out and everyone started to get loud again and yell at Naruto who couldn't hear anything because he's still out cold,

"He is not the monster here it's all of you," Lucy shouted out as tears of frustration started to build in her eyes, "Your anger is so misguided that's it's turned you all into the demon that you so despise, this boy has done nothing wrong. He is a victim just like the rest of you, I know losing your loved ones hurt and you want some type of closure but this is no way to do it," Lucy's tears started to fall, "all this is going to do is make you just as bad if not worse than the thing that took your loved ones away. Please don't make this lonely boy suffer because of it, he's lost loved ones too. Loved ones that he didn't even get the chance to know," as Lucy cried for Naruto everyone was silently staring at the girl who looked so angry before but it was like that anger never existed and for most of the crowd their anger melted into tears as well. They cried for their misguided actions, their lost loved ones and for the boy that had to endure it all. However, some were still angry and not just at the boy any longer. They were mad at Lucy for not letting them get their revenge,

"That demon needs to pay, I won't let you stand in the way of all my hard work," the man that had done all of the talking before shouted, some murmurs of agreement were heard but significantly less than before. It was at this moment that Naruto began to wake up, still, with tears running down her face Lucy shouted,

"His name is Naruto Uzumaki and he works harder than anybody," Naruto looked up at Lucy surprised and with tears in his eyes. Lucy turned around and hooked one of Naruto's arms around her shoulder and jumped off towards the hospital. His injuries were too severe for her to heal them herself but once she got to the hospital they refused to heal him, no matter how hard she pleaded they would just look at Naruto in disgust and refused to treat him.

"Please treat the boy, Shizuka," Lucy heard a familiar old voice from behind her and the nurse that she was currently arguing with scrambled to get a room ready. Lucy turned around and saw the Hokage without his usual pipe staring at Naruto in sorrow, once the brunette nurse came back with a gurney Lucy placed Naruto onto it and saw it go into a room not too far from where she was standing. Sighing Lucy sat down on a nearby chair and slowly took some deep breaths, she still wasn't relaxed and she probably wouldn't be until she hears something about Naruto's condition.

Lucy heard someone sit in a chair beside her and looked over to see the Hokage looking older than she has ever seen him, "they are more aggressive on this day, October 10th," he spoke and Lucy sat silently looking at him, "I believe that my actions are the cause of their hatred. I ordered the older generation to never speak of the events that took place that night. Naruto doesn't even know about the Nine-tails," Lucy stared at him blankly, indeed that was probably the wrong thing to do,

"You're probably right, you made a mistake and now Naruto is paying for it," Lucy bluntly said and the Hokage looked down. He didn't expect her to be so forthright, he thought that she would try to be kind about it, "so what are you going to do now?" Lucy asked him and he looked at her, he was surprised by her question, "you're sitting here wallowing in self-pity at your mistake, while Naruto is in that room getting healed up after your citizens brutally beat him and then workers here refusing to treat his injuries. How are you going to mend your mistake?" Lucy told him, emphasizing the fact that it was his people that did this to Naruto.

The Hokage sighed at her words knowing that she was right, "the world needs more people like you," he said, "You should go clean yourself up, I'll stay until you get back," he said gently. Lucy looked skeptical at his words not fully trusting him, he knew that the villagers would be like that today and he still didn't keep an eye on Naruto. Lucy finally nodded her head and got up wincing as she felt the cool air on her injured back. On the way back to Kakashi's place she could feel the eyes of the villagers on her as she passed. Probably looking at her back, her shirt had opened up and her back was exposed. It was now hanging by her neck and she tied two ends of it together to keep it in place until she could change.

Walking through the door Lucy tried to make her way upstairs but Kakashi heard her come in and went to greet her, "Hey Lucy, how did- what the hell is that?" Kakashi asked loudly in surprise and Lucy turned to him confused,

"What's, what?"

"What happened to your back?" Kakashi questioned as he gently turned her back around to examine her injury,

"Oh that, it's nothing really," Lucy tried to persuade so she could quickly get back to the hospital,

"Lucy you're bleeding," Kakashi stated and started leading Lucy into the bathroom where he keeps the first aid kit. Once he started cleaning her wound he demanded to know what happened,

"Naruto never showed at his place so I went looking for him, when I found him through the villagers were beating him," Lucy said and clenched her fists tightly, "I threw myself in front of him and took one of the hits, that's all," Kakashi was enraged at what he was hearing but kept quiet as he continued to clean and bandage her wound, "I took him to the hospital and I came back to change and go to Naruto's to pick up some stuff before going back," Lucy finished just as Kakashi said that she could move. Lucy started to make her way towards her room after thanking Kakashi so that she could change,

"I'll walk you back to the hospital," Kakashi said once Lucy started making her way out the front door once again. She sighed knowing that there was nothing that she could do to change his mind and walked to Naruto's place, where she picked up his birthday cake and presents. Lucy also sent a message to Iruka via her messenger tiger to let him know where Naruto was before they both started making their way to the hospital.

Once Lucy got to Naruto's room she looked through the window and saw the Hokage talking with the now wide awake Naruto, "You should come in with me," Lucy said as Kakashi turned to leave. Kakashi however, looked down at the ground, "Kakashi, this is your teacher's legacy, you should get to know him," Lucy suggested gently and placed a hand on his arm. He quickly shook her off and said that he was leaving on a mission and would probably be gone before she got home before making his way towards the exit of the hospital, "If you change your mind I'm sure he would love to meet you," Lucy called after him before he could get too far before making her way inside of Naruto's room.

"Hey Naruto," Lucy yelled out happily as she placed the bags that had Naruto's birthday stuff inside down next to him,

"Lucy," Naruto yelled out loudly, his eyes lit up with glee and sparkled when he saw her. He admired Lucy before and she was his first friend but now it's like that all tripled, she stuck up for him against everyone, she even got hurt in his place, she cried for him. Lucy was someone he wanted to keep happy and to protect, now he has many more reasons to become Hokage. It's not just for his own sake anymore.

The Hokage had long since gone now as Naruto started talking away to Lucy until she had to physically hold her hand over his mouth, "Naruto I wanted it to be a surprise and under better circumstances but," Lucy paused and reached into the bag that she had brought in and taken out his cake, "Happy Birthday!" She shouted and presented him with the cake. Naruto was quiet as he looked at the cake, never before had he celebrated his birthday before. It was always a day that he had to hide away because of the villagers, his eyes filled with tears and Lucy started to panic, "Ah, I didn't mean to make you cry, I'm sorry. Um, don't you like cake? Do you want actual ramen instead? I can go get some really quick," Lucy's voice was cut off when Naruto started laughing,

"No, I've just never had a real birthday before," he said as he wiped his eyes and Lucy looked down sad before smiling up at him,

"Well now that I'm here I'm going to celebrate as many of your birthdays with you as I can," _'but how many can I be there for?'_ Lucy silently thought to herself, "dig in," she said as she cut him a piece of the ramen looking cake. After they had eaten cake Lucy grabbed put an envelope and a small package, "Open the envelope first," Lucy said as she passed them to him. Naruto opened up the envelope excitedly to see a handmade card written inside was,

 _'Dear Naruto,_

 _I hope that we can make many more memories together,_

 _I will always hold you dear to my heart,_

 _Happy 11th Birthday,_

 _Love Lucy'_

After Naruto read it he had a big smile on his face not noticing the sad smile that Lucy had on hers and his smile only got bigger when he saw that a ramen coupon was attached to the card. Not waiting for Lucy to say anything he got to work on the small package, inside was a book on all of the Hokage of the village. This was Lucy's way of secretly giving Naruto things about his family, she knows that he doesn't know this and will probably never figure it but it would make her feel less guilty about keeping it a secret from him. Yet another thing she was hiding.

After a few more hours a nurse came to say that visiting hours were over and Lucy promised to visit him tomorrow before she left. On the way back to Kakashi's Lucy felt like someone was following her, the hair on the back of her neck stood up and she got goose bumps all over her arms. This feeling never left her even as. she opened the door and stepped inside, she felt like she wasn't alone in the house and brought a kunai out of her boot and held it in front of her as she slowly made her way through the house.

Making it to the kitchen Lucy turned on the light and let out a scream as she saw someone sitting there at the table, she was trying to calm her breathing but it didn't work once she realised who it was. There sitting in the front of her was Danzo, the elder that Kakashi told her to stay away from,

"Mr. Shimura, may I ask what you're doing here, sitting in the dark?" Lucy asked respectfully,

"My apologies Miss Heartfilia, I did not mean to alarm you," he said, _'Yes you did,'_ Lucy thought to herself and shivered slightly when he said her last name.

"Please call me Lucy, may I offer you something to drink?" Lucy asked and brought out the manners that had been drilled into her since childhood,

"No thank you, this shouldn't take long," he said dismissively,

"Kakashi left on a mission already but I can let you know when he comes back if you wish," Lucy said hoping to get the bandaged man out of the house. Lucy shivered once more as Danzo chuckled,

"Oh my dear I'm here for you," his aged voice told her and she froze slightly,

"What is it that I can help you with Sir?" Lucy asked as she mentally tried to calm herself down,

"I would like to ask you to join an organisation of mine, you are extremely skilled and have intelligence far beyond your years. I think you would do well working under me," Danzo said getting straight to the point,

"You flatter me Mr. Shimura but I have to decline your offer. You see I work under Lord Hokage," Lucy said trying to find out what exactly he was asking and also trying to make this exchange quick. However, once Lucy had finished what she was saying and saw the look on Danzo's face she knew that it was the wrong thing to say.

"I'm afraid, Lucy, that I was not asking," at this Danzo nodded his head and Lucy suddenly felt a pinch on her neck before everything went dark.

Lucy woke up and groaned at the pain at the back of her neck, trying to remember what happened. Blinking her eyes several times and started looking around, she noticed that she was strapped to a chair in chakra restraints. She didn't struggle trying not to alert the ones that had taken her that she was awake just yet, she needed to remember what happened and try to find a way to escape.

 **With Naruto**

Naruto woke up in the hospital the next day excited to see Lucy once again, he was even more excited when he saw Iruka come through the door and realised that he was going to have both of them here but as the hours flew by and Lucy didn't show Naruto was beginning to worry.

"Iruka-sensei I'm kind of worried, Lucy promised to come by today but visiting hours are almost over," Naruto expressed his concerns to his teacher,

"Something probably came up Naruto, she's a pretty busy person. I'm sure she'll explain tomorrow," Iruka tries to calm him down but Naruto frantically shook his head,

"Lucy doesn't break promises Iruka-sensei, somethings wrong," he tried to stress to his teacher,

"How about I go by and check on her on my way home," Iruka said and Naruto nodded his head with a relieved look on his face.

Iruka was walking towards Kakashi's place where he knew Lucy lived since the Hokage mentioned it. Getting closer to Kakashi's house he saw Kakashi himself about to open the door, "Hey Kakashi," Iruka said as he got closer,

"Ahh, Iruka, what are you doing here?" Kakashi asked boredly,

"Naruto got worried when Lucy didn't come to see him like she said she would so I'm here to make sure she's okay," Iruka said,

"That doesn't sound like Lucy," Kakashi said and started to get worried, he quickly opened up the door and walked inside with Iruka following him. Kakashi stopped and sniffed the air, "someone else has been here," Kakashi said quietly, his guard now raised, "it's faint but the scent is still here,"

"Do you recognise it?" Iruka asked him,

"it is slightly familiar, so I must have at least met them before," Kakashi said before biting on his thumb and summoned his ninja dogs, "find Lucy," that was all he needed to say before the dogs jumped away to try and find a trace of her, "Iruka, can you tell the Hokage that Lucy is missing?" Kakashi said, his shoulders tense as he impatiently waited for his dogs,

"How do you know she's missing? There's no sign of a struggle," Iruka asked confused,

"You don't know Lucy like I do," Kakashi said as he walked into her kitchen to see only one chair, not in place and he went to inspect it, "Lucy's kind of a neat freak, she almost always cleans up after herself and never leaves a mess anywhere other than her own room. Not only that but I can't smell strawberries anywhere near here," he said and Iruka was even more confused,

"What do strawberries have to do with this?"

"Lucy loves anything with strawberries in it, tea, sweets, you name it and I can't smell any so that means she wasn't here at any point today,"

"Maybe she ate out?" Iruka suggested not seeing Kakashi beginning to get a restless,

"Lucy always eats breakfast before she leaves the house unless she's mad at me for some reason, trust me Iruka she's missing and if you don't go and tell the Hokage right now I'll make sure that you can never say anything ever again," Kakashi started to raise his voice as he talked and Iruka flinched at the deadly tone of his voice. Iruka didn't even say anything as he ran out if the house to tell the Hokage about Lucy.

It was then that Kakashi's summons came back and Pakkun started talking, "We've found her scent but its faint, you should hurry before it disappears," Pakkun said as the rest of the dogs started to leave in puffs of smoke and Pakkun lead Kakashi to where ever Lucy was.

 **With Lucy**

According to Horologium, it had been a few hours since she's woken up and an entire day since she's been taken. She doubts anyone has even realised that she's missing yet but hopefully Kakashi comes back from his mission soon and tries to look for her. Just then the door opened and Lucy tried to make out who was walking into the dark room, all she got was that this person had a walking stick so she assumed it was Danzo. Two people walked in behind him and stood beside Danzo once he stopped walking,

"So have you had time to rethink your attitude from yesterday?" he spoke as if she was a child in time out,

"Indeed I have," Lucy rasped out and she could faintly see the light from the doorway reflect off of Danzo's now visible teeth, "and I think I should've explained myself better so you would've understood my refusal to your proposition," Lucy snarled out and she saw one of the guard's tense at her words as Danzo growled in anguish,

"You're going to regret insulting me, no one insults me," Danzo said and at this Lucy grew confused, had she insulted him? Or was it the refusal itself that was the insult? "No one refuses me," Danzo continued and Lucy snapped out of her thoughts,

"Clearly someone has or you wouldn't be so dramatic about it," Lucy said not realising that she had started talking until it was too late. She silently cursed herself but couldn't help but let out a small smirk at the look on his face. Danzo's eye was twitching, his upper lip lifted to one side and his teeth clenched, he really did look like an angry avocado with teeth. Lucy's head suddenly snapped to the side and the entire right side of her face stung, it felt like her eye was started to swell up but she didn't let out a sound as it happened or as she turned to face him yet again.

It was taking all of her energy trying to keep Loke from opening his own gate, _'soon,'_ was all she silently said to him and the rest of her spirits for them to calm down just enough so that she could focus on what was in front of her,

"You will address me as Lord Danzo from now on, you answer to me alone. You work for me, not that peace-loving Hokage," Danzo spat out as he looked down at her and Lucy suddenly realised what she was going to do to get out of there, "there are rules here, first, emotions are for the weak. You must never let your emotions get in the way of your missions. Second, you follow my orders without question. Third, we protect the village hidden in the leaves from the shadows, we do not seek glory or fame. We do our job and that's it, those in the light must stay in the light and those in the shadows shall never try to be anywhere else. This is where we belong, this is ROOT." Danzo explained and Lucy suddenly snorted, unable to hold it in. Danzo snapped his head down to look at her and snarled, "what exactly is so funny?" he yelled and then slapped her right cheek yet again.

Lucy had her hair over her eyes as she kept her head to the side before she started smirking, "everything about what you said was hilarious. Emotions make you weak, oh please don't make me laugh if you really believed that then you wouldn't be acting so hysterical," Danzo had enough of listening to Lucy and slapped her cheek so hard that the chair fell down. Lucy's head banged against the floor and to cover up the pain she started laughing,

"You contradict everything that you've just said, if you really believed any of it then I wouldn't even be here right now. More importantly, neither would you, you claim that you protect the village from the shadows and yet you're a village elder, one of the most known people among the ninja in the village," both of the masked guards beside Danzo stiffened up at her explanation, just now realising that everything she's saying is true.

Danzo was about to order the ninja to pick up the chair so he could hit her again but she suddenly turned to face him with her face full of blood and a smug look on her face, "besides, how can you claim to be emotionless when its obvious that you're jealous of Lord Hokage," at her words Danzo snapped and lifted one of his legs to kick her on the face but before he could she yelled out, "open gate of the golden bull, Taurus," suddenly a golden light was shining in the room and a giant bull that wielded a battle axe and was standing upright appeared,

"Moo, Lucy it's been awhile" Taurus drones out and looks up and down her small child body with disappointment, "how long until I get to see that smoking body of yours, Lucy?"

"Quit being such a perv and beat them up ready," Lucy yelled out as she summoned Virgo to get her out of the chains,

"Watch my moooves," Taurus yelled out as he swung the axe and the ninja jumped out of the way, the axe landed on the floor and it started to crack. Lucy quickly told Virgo to go back and she changed into her Taurus star dress,

"Taurus lets end this quickly," Lucy shouted to her spirit and gathered chakra into her fist and brought it down where Taurus made the floor crack. The ground quickly gave way and started to split apart, Taurus went back to the spirit realm and Lucy jumped to avoid falling through the floor. Noticing that more masked people were coming from behind her, Lucy quickly bit her thumb hard enough to draw blood, "Summoning Jutsu," Lucy yelled out and her pack of tigers came out and stood around her protectively,

"I want her dead," Danzo yelled out from where he now stood, behind all of his soldiers and Lucy snarled at him,

 _'That coward_ ,' Lucy thought to herself in disgust, _'why do I keep running into people like this?_ ' she continued to think, sweat dropping as she did so,

"She's just one little girl, no matter how skilled she is, her chakra will run out eventually and she's all alone," Danzo continues. Lucy didn't want to admit it but he was right, she didn't have enough energy to take them all on even with her tigers with her.

As they came at her, Lucy equipped her Leo star dress, which was now a black flower girl type dress with a golden belt, was sleeveless but had thin straps. Loke's star dress was by far her most durable and had advanced speed added on top of that. Reguluses power was truly remarkable but took more magic than the others to fight in. Lucy needed the durability though, her right eye was swollen shut and now created a blind spot. While Lucy was trained in sensory techniques she needed to reserve her chakra.

Looking around her Lucy saw that a lot of her tigers had to be sent back because they had injuries, things weren't looking good for her. She needed to think fast, looking around Lucy saw that Danzo still stood behind all of his masked ninja's, with that irritating smug look on his face. With blood dripping from her split lip Lucy snarled at him, never had she felt so much disgust for one person and Lucy has met a lot of people from enemy guilds. Even those who worked for Zeref did not make her feel this way, what was it about Danzo that made her feel this way. Not even Orochimaru makes her feel this way and he tortured her for months, while Orochimaru does disgust Lucy and even puts fear into her very being she just couldn't help but think that something was very wrong here.

Taking a deep breath Lucy transformed into her Taurus star dress and added chakra into her feet and arms before pushing herself forward. Lucy rammed her way through the masked forces, as Danzo's soldiers kept trying to get close to her they either couldn't keep up or got forced away with the amount of chakra that Lucy emitted. As she neared Danzo she summoned Cancer and changed into his Star dress.

"Hey Baby, shall I give them a funky do?" Cancer said as he appeared next to her, she could tell that Danzo was intrigued by her spirits but she tried not to think too much about it,

"Oh yeah, straight off the top," Lucy yelled out as she pointed towards the masked shinobi, and Cancer sped past all of them with his razor sharp scissors and their hair and their weapons into pieces before going back. While Lucy was preparing to open another gate,

"Open the gate of the ram, Aries," Lucy called and the adorable, fluffy girl appeared,

"Oh, I'm sorry Miss Lucy, how can I help?" the shy pink girl asked,

"Do your thing girl," Lucy shouted excitedly, hoping to be encouraging towards her,

"O-okay, Wool bomb," Aries shouted and pink wool was spread over Danzo's ninja and for a moment they looked like they were starting to relax in it but then snapped out of it and jumped out of the wool and onto the ledges above them that Lucy didn't notice before, "I'm so sorry Miss Lucy," Aries said as she returned to the spirit realm,

"Don't worry you tried your best," Lucy replies,

"Well don't you have interesting summons but it seems like they are obsolete compared to my ninja, I can tell that you're extremely low on chakra. You can't continue to way you have been for much longer," Danzo chuckles and Lucy was struggling to think of something, anything that would be useful,

"Open the gate of the archer, Sagittarius," Lucy yelled out and Sagittarius showed up in his usual salute,

"Good day, my lady,"

"Let's take them down," Lucy yelled out to him, transforming into her Sagittarius star dress and they both started to rapidly shoot arrows at the ninja up on the ledge. When Danzo saw their aim he performed a jutsu,

"Wind style, air bullets," he said and Lucy just managed to dodge but Sagittarius ended up getting hit,

"It seems like I'm off to the spirit world, to-da-loo," he yelled out as he got sent back,

"Sagittarius," Lucy called out in worry before she fell to her knees, _'I can't be out of power yet,'_ she thought to herself as he breathing became uneven,

"Looks like you're out of chakra," Danzo chuckles out and a couple dozen of his masked ninja's came to stand around her, the rest were severely injured, "you need to learn your place. Too bad you won't get the chance, I would have liked to see you all submissive after everything you've done to me," he said and he started to perform a jutsu the same one as before, "wind style, air bullet,"

Lucy closed her eyes in fear and waited for the pain to come but it never did, instead, she felt herself being picked up by someone and said person jumping away. Opening her eyes Lucy half expected it to be Loke but was surprised to find that it was Kakashi, "Ka-Kakashi, how did you get here?" Lucy asked first and Kakashi got a tick mark on his head,

"What no thank you?" he said harshly but took in a breath at the sight of her face, "what the hell did he do?" he said as he grasped her chin worriedly and gently placed her on the ground.

"Bigger issues at the moment Kakashi," Lucy said trying to get his focus off of her face, he let go of her chin and sighed knowing that she's right. He snapped his eye open and picked her up suddenly once again to dodge another attack, "do you know a way out?" Lucy asked him as he continued to dodge attacks, but he was losing chakra because he uncovered the Sharingan.

"Once they figured out I was here they caved it in," Kakashi said,

"Wait, we're underground?" Lucy asked in shock and Kakashi nodded, "I don't have enough energy to drill through the dirt," Lucy mumbled as she looked down, Kakashi looked down slightly at Lucy and sighed again,

"You did fine," Kakashi said boredly as he hid from the attacks that were being thrown at them and put her down once again, "although I thought I told you to stay away from him," Kakashi scolded,

"Hey, I tried to kick him out as fast as I could but he seems to just do whatever he wants," Lucy shouted in defense, Kakashi put a hand on her head,

"Right now, all that matters is that you're safe,"

"Well isn't this touching," both of them snapped up their heads to look at Danzo who entered the room that they were hiding in, "I'm surprised by your attachment to her Kakashi, I remember the days that you were nicknamed the friend killer," Kakashi tensed as he heard this and Lucy tried not to let her shock show, "ah, so you haven't told her," Danzo continued to mock and Kakashi clenched his teeth, "about how you killed Rin,"

The air around them was tense, Danzo was still staring at Kakashi mockingly and Kakashi was still clenching his jaw, his hands were now tight fists and they were shaking. Lucy didn't know what to do, she didn't know what to make of what Danzo said nor did she know how to deal with this situation. Kakashi was furious and too ashamed to look at Lucy, she was still staring at him in what he assumed to be fear, Kakashi clenched his eyes shut and he tried to calm his now panicked breathing. Rin's face was fresh in his mind, as his Chidori was in her chest and the blood that ran down his hand. Her blood that ran down his hand.

Lucy could see that Kakashi was now panicking and had no idea what to do, "Kakashi, calm down," Lucy said gently and tried to put her hand on his arm but he pulled it away harshly, he opened his eyes and turned his deadly gaze onto Danzo who was smirking, "Kakashi try to stay calm, he's just messing with you," Lucy said louder and either Kakashi couldn't hear her or he was ignoring her.

"Lucy," she heard a familiar voice from behind her and saw Yamato standing there, "stay away from Kakashi until he's calmed down," Lucy looked at him confused,

"What do you mean?" she asked him and Yamato reached his hand out towards her,

"Danzo touched a very sensitive subject, you need to come here," Yamato tried to persuade her, he knows that her and Kakashi are close but right now Kakashi can't hear anything that they're saying nor can be see anything else but Danzo and he won't until he's exhausted or knocked out. Lucy hesitated, she needed to know of Kakashi was okay but Yamato seemed to have seen him like this before, Kakashi still hadn't looked at her but his gaze on Danzo seemed to get more feral the longer he looked at him.

Slowly Lucy moved backwards towards Yamato and Yamato sighed in relief, he honestly didn't know how Kakashi would react if he woke up tomorrow and he had hurt Lucy. By the time Lucy had reached Yamato, Danzo had more ROOT members surrounding the three shinobi,

"How many are there? It's like he's storing them away somewhere," Lucy commented, "Yamato do you have any idea about how to beat them or at least paralyse them somehow?" Lucy asked and she felt him stiffen,

"I can't say," he responded quietly,

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked him becoming frustrated,

"I can't say," he responded once again,

"I don't understand, you can't say because its classified or you can't say because you don't know?" Lucy asked again,

"Lucy, I just can't say," Yamato responded and Lucy was beyond confused before she remembered something when Lucy put that seal on Yamato she saw something on his tongue, it looked similar to a cursed seal that Lucy saw in a book once,

 _'Crux, tell me everything you know on cursed seals,'_

 _'Well as you know Miss Lucy, cursed seals is a technique that is used to being someone under the control of the user. Applying a seal to the victim's body the user controls his or her actions. With a hand seal of the users choice, they can inflict mental or physical damage upon the victim.'_ Crux responded to Lucy as more ninja surrounded them,

 _'And if one of those seals were on say the tongue?'_ Lucy asked him fearfully,

 _'It would most likely cause choking and the inability to breath or talk,'_ Crux responds gravely.

Lucy suddenly turned around to face Yamato and he looked at her in surprise, "Yamato, show me your tongue," Lucy demanded of him and he looked down shamefully before slowly sticking his tongue out and Lucy saw a complex cursed seal, one with a trigger sign. _'The user doesn't even need to be near him to activate it,'_ Lucy thought angry, _'the chakra signature is familiar,'_ Lucy thought and turned to look at Danzo furiously, "You're sick," Lucy shouted at him and Yamato looked at her in surprise.

"Ah, you figured it out and so quickly. That intellect and power, I crave it." Danzo said with a crazed look in his eye and Yamato stood in front of Lucy while Lucy shuddered. Danzo looked at Kakashi whos gaze hadn't strayed from Danzo, its like he's in a trance.

"Is he going to be okay?" Lucy asked Yamato worriedly,

"He should be, either he'll calm down or be knocked out. Right now he's just trying not to kill Danzo," Yamato whispered to her and Lucy frowned,

"I wouldn't stop him if he tried," she grumbled and Yamato nodded, "by the way, how did you know we were here?" Lucy asked trying not to panic,

"Iruka told the Hokage that you were missing and sent me here, he's sending back up as we speak," Yamato tried to explain to her calmly but couldn't help but sweatdrop at seeing Lucy just start to panic. She really has a delayed reaction.

Suddenly Kakashi moved and lunged at Danzo but Danzo's ninja got in the way and tried to stop him. Kakashi however, wasn't letting them stop him, Lucy had never seen him like this before Kakashi wasn't aiming to cause injury, he was aiming to kill and Lucy wasn't going to lie she was scared of what she was seeing. Yamato noticed this and put his hands on her shoulders to try and calm her down,

"Stop," Lucy whispered out but no one heard her, blood hit her left cheek, "please stop it," Lucy whispered out scared and a flash of green landed behind Kakashi and held him back,

"Gai," Yamato sighed in relief but paused once he saw Kakashi struggle to get loose,

"Kakashi, stop," Gai said loud enough for everyone to hear but Kakashi didn't seem to hear him, "Kakashi," Gai yelled out but nothing seemed to get through to him and Danzo let out a loud laugh.

"Seems like he's not over it, for a second their he had me going. I thought he could control himself but I guess not," he said mockingly and Kakashi started to struggle even more. Lucy let out the tears that had been building up in her non-swelling eye and started to shake. Gai saw this and tried again,

"Kakashi you have to stop, you're scaring Lucy," Gai"s voice was gentle and Kakashi froze, he slowly turned to face Lucy and his eyes widened at the sight of her shaking and tears coming out of the eye she could see out of. Lucy had her hands up to her mouth as if to stop herself from crying out loud. Kakashi went slack in Gai's arms and looked down in shame, Yamato still had his hands on Lucys shaking shoulders and he looked at Kakashi in worry.

Danzo laughed once again, "ah, giving up already?" Kakashi didn't acknowledge that he heard Danzo speak as Gai let go of him, he only looked down ashamed that he lost control in front of Lucy. He looked down in surprise at the feeling of someone grabbing his forearm and saw Lucy there looking at him in concern,

"Can we go home now Kakashi?" Lucy asked her voice still shaking slightly, Kakashi felt his eyes soften up slightly before reaching down to place a hand on her head,

"Sure," he whispered to her and in the background, Gai smiled wide while holding up his thumb and crying dramatically,

"If you think you can leave, go ahead," Danzo spoke mockingly as he held his arms out and masked ninja began to close in on the four,

"Open the gate of the scorpion, Scorpio," Lucy called out and immediately after started making hand signs,

"We are, Sand Buster," shouted Scorpio as soon as he was summoned,

"Wind style, eternal vortex jutsu," Lucy shouted quickly after him and just like with Wendy's dragon roar, the two began to combine and because out a big horizontal tornado. Creating a path as it blew masked ninja out of the way,

"Thanks for your help Scorpio," Lucy said as Scorpio left, "now, open the gate of the sea goat, gate of the lion, Capricorn, Leo,"

"Lady Lucy how may I assist?" Capricorn asked respectfully,

"Hey, beautiful, what can I do for you?" Like said,

"Take them down," Lucy said and pointed to the leftover ninja surrounding them, at this Yamato, Gai and Kakashi also joined the fight. Lucy, however, was in her Sagittarius star dress and was rapidly shooting arrows trying to asses the what to do next.

 _'There are too many of them, they keep popping up like flies. I'm going to have to do the big one,'_ Lucy thought to herself as she asked Loke and Capricorn to go back and summoned another a zodiac key, "Open the gate of the twins, Gemini,"

"Piri Piri, pikiri, hello miss Lucy," Gemi and Mini said as they swirled around Lucy's head,

"Alright you guys, its time for the big one," Lucy declared to them and everyone but Gemi and Mini looked at her in confusion,

"Are you sure Miss," Gemi said,

"You remember last time right?" Mini continued,

"It's alright, just transform into me," Lucy said and held out her arm. Once Gemini transformed into another little Lucy they put their hands together and started chanting.

"Oh, the stars far and wide that embody the heavens,  
By thy radiance reveal thy form to me,  
I implore Tetrabiblos, eternal ruler of the stars,  
now that the aspect is complete I ask that you land your power to me let your unrestrained rage flow,  
open your raging tumultuous gate, with all 88 heavenly bodies,  
Shining,  
Urano Metria,"

Gemini disappeared as the spell took effect, 88 stars dropped from the starry sky created by the spell and took out the surrounding enemies, Danzo taking most of the damage. Gai, Yamato and Kakashi were all looking in shock at Lucy before she passed out. Kakashi ran and caught her before she hit the floor,

"What is she?" Yamato whispered out loud as he looked around at all of the enemies that were knocked out cold,

"That girl, I must have her," a croaked whisper came out of Danzo as he struggled to sit up,

"I thought I made it clear that Lucy was to remain under my command," a tired voice came from behind them,

"Lord Hokage," Yamato said in surprise, ignoring Yamato Hiruzen continued,

"You kidnapped one of my better ninja Danzo and by the looks of it, she did not agree to your proposal. Neither did I for that matter," Lord third stated bluntly and looked at the beaten up elder with disappointment, "you went back on our agreement Danzo, Lucy is to remain under my commandment, it was agreed upon by the elders. Now, look where this has gotten you, all of your ninjas are knocked out and you have put your hands on a child. Not to mention she has exhausted herself trying to get of your grip, I would suggest not doing this again Danzo. I will not tolerate you hurting my ninja, especially young spirited ones like Lucy," Hiruzen Sarutobi said as he walked forward to stand in front of the still unconscious Lucy, "all of you should go get checked at the hospital, I will come by to check on Lucy when I have finished here," he said to Kakashi.

Having no reason to stay Kakashi jumped off with Lucy in his arms in the direction of the hospital with the others behind him. On the way, they passed by Ibiki who was shocked at the sight of Lucy unconscious in Kakashi's arms although he didn't show it. He followed behind them to the hospital and got Kakashi to explain what happened,

"So the reason you look so guilty is that you lost it in front of her?" Ibiki asked bluntly after everything was explained to him when Kakashi nodded Ibiki sighed tiredly, "you and I both know that it's not going to affect her opinion of you, she was most likely worried above all else," Ibiki stated a matter of factly but Kakashi didn't look up from the ground as he sat in a chair in the waiting room, "if you're really that worried about it why don't you just tell her about Rin? I'm sure she would understand, I know it may not look like it but Lucy has dealt with losing friends before," Ibiki said and Kakashi looked at him in confusion, "she's had to deal with a lot, I think that you both have more in common then you realise," Ibiki continued not realising the look Kakashi had on his face,

"Wait, she's told you about her past?" Kakashi asked him and Ibiki slightly tensed, just realising what Kakashi implied,

"Well, I kind of made her when I guessed a major part of it," Ibiki grumbled out not looking forward to trying to keep Lucys past a secret,

"But she's told you," Kakashi said in surprise, _'why won't she tell me?'_ he asked himself,

"Like I said, I guessed and she filled in the blanks. Trust me Kakashi, I wouldn't know otherwise. I almost didn't believe her when she told me," Ibiki tried to explain,

"Why? What's so unbelievable about her past?" Kakashi grumbles out loudly,

"I think it would be best if you heard it from Lucy, just know that when she finally tells you, she's not crazy," Ibiki said and Kakashi sighed out in disappointment before bunching his shoulders,

"I guess I can deal with that later," he said before summoning Pakkun,

"Is Lucy okay?" was what came out if Pakkuns mouth first,

"She's getting checked out now, there was something I wanted to run by you though. I think it would be best if you stayed with Lucy when I'm not there," Kakashi said to his summons,

"Lucy isn't going to like being babysat, especially by a dog," Ibiki said in amusement and Kakashi frowned,

"Tough, she got kidnapped yesterday and I wasn't even out if the village for a full 24 hours before it happened, she's not to be alone outside of the house or while I'm away on a mission," Kakashi stated firmly,

"You're too overprotective, I'd hate to see what you're like when she starts dating," Pakkun said from the ground,

"She's not allowed to date, ever," Kakashi simply said and Ibiki burst out into laughter, something that was thought to be impossible,

"Good luck with that," he said in between laughs and Kakashi grumbled incoherently under his breath, "Seriously though Kakashi, loosen up a bit. It's not like she's your daughter you have no right to dictate what happens in her life," Ibiki continued and Kakashi looked at the ground, "ah, so you want to dictate what goes on in her life," Ibiki said mockingly while Pakkun sighed at his summoners actions,

"Nothing like that," Kakashi grumbled, "I know I'm not her father or anything but she lives in my house she follows my rules," Kakashi said stubbornly,

"She might have to follow house rules but that doesn't mean she has to follow rules outside of the house. Lucy is a very independent person Kakashi, sometimes she may act childish and innocent but she's seen the horrors of this world. She knows what's best for herself, you have no right to say otherwise," Ibiki lectured him,

"You think because you know Lucy's past that means you know her? It doesn't," Kakashi said boredly before pulling out his Make Out Paradise book seemingly from nowhere and started to read, indicating a silent dismissal of the conversation.

Ibiki sighed before getting up from his spot, "tell me when she can have visitors, I want to see how she's doing," Kakashi refused to acknowledge that Ibiki spoke and just ignored him while he tried to read his book but Ibiki's words kept running through his head, _'It's not like she's your daughter, she's an independent person, so you want to dictate her life?'_ they played on an endless loop. Kakashi tightened his grip on the book in frustration.

 **Time Skip**

"What do you mean she's not waking up?" Kakashi yelled out to the doctor that was examining Lucy,

"I-i don't understand, everything appears to be normal. I don't know why she's not waking up," the doctor stuttered as he moved away from the doorway that leads to Lucy's room to allow Kakashi in. It had been hours since Lucy was admitted and she wasn't waking up, her chakra levels were normal and her head injuries were not series, but she wasn't waking up. Kakashi was trying not to freak out while Pakkun who was still with him went to go tell Ibiki about Lucy's condition.

"Well, find out what's wrong with her then," Kakashi yelled out,

"W-we have done multiple tests and all of them come back the same. There is physically nothing wrong with her," the doctor stuttered out to Kakashi as he tried to inch his way out of the hospital room scared of the ex-anbu. Kakashi growled and was about to go on another rant when Ibiki walked in,

"Thank you for your help doctor, please continue to try to think of a possibility," Ibiki said calmly, mainly because he had an inkling as to what the problem is,

"What are you doing, there's still something wrong with Lucy and," Kakashi started to say as the doctor quickly left the room but Ibiki interrupted him,

"And what? You're going to yell an explanation out of him," Ibiki said mockingly, "Lucy will wake up eventually, she did exhaust herself. Just give her some time to recover,"

"But the doctor said her chakra id back to normal," Kakashi said worried,

"It might not be her chakra," Ibiki said and Kakashi looked at him confused, "I mean, she went through a beating and then fought Danzo and his ninja alone until you showed up. Her body and mind are probably still recovering," Ibiki quickly explained, Kakashi sat heavily on the chair next to Lucy and looked at her guilty, "stop feeling sorry for yourself, she's alive isn't she?" Ibiki groaned out but was also worried about Lucy.

Ibiki told Lucy that if her ethernano problem started to become dangerous for her then he would have to tell the Hokage about Earth Land, but how is he suppose to do that without some kind of proof. Lucy already said that her spirit summons was a family thing so people are just assuming that its a kekkei Genkai, not only that but she's telling that jinjuriki boy her past through story-telling. _'She's rigged it so that no one would believe me if I did try to explain. I don't know if that was intentional or not,'_ Ibiki thought to himself annoyed, _'if she had something from there, like a history book or a photo of herself then maybe I could prove it,'_ Ibiki continued to think to himself but shook himself out if his thoughts as he looked at Kakashi.

Wondering if he should tell him, "Kakashi," Ibiki started and Kakashi looked up at him, Ibiki saw the bags that were under his eyes and the worry that reflected off of them, "you should go and rest, I'll stay with her and ill let you know immediately if anything happens," Ibiki tried to persuade him and Kakashi was just about to deny his offer when the door burst open and Naruto ran into the room, stopping beside Lucy.

"W-what happened, you know?" Naruto explained loudly worriedly looking at the unconscious girl on the bed, Kakashi got up after nodding to Ibiki and left the room to go back home and get some rest,

"She'll be alright, she's just exhausted," Ibiki said in annoyance to the loud boy after Kakashi left,

"How did this happen? I only just saw Lucy a day ago and now she has a scar on her lip," Naruto said sadly as he looked down to where Danzo had split open Lucy's lip so bad that it left a scar,

"Maybe you should be her bodyguard while she's in hospital, to make sure that it doesn't happen again," Ibiki said trying to make the boy feel better knowing that he was special to Lucy,

"Right, I'll protect Lucy. When I become Hokage Lucy will never have to worry about anything ever again," Naruto exclaimed loudly as he started to march back and forth in front of Lucy's bed, stopping to look around to make sure no one was looking through the windows every once in a while.

"Aren't you the kid that's always shouting that he'll become Hokage to be acknowledged by the village?" Ibiki asked him and Naruto looked at him in surprise before nodding his head, "it sounds like you're becoming the Hokage for Lucy's sake though," Ibiki said. Naruto looked at Lucy for a second before continuing,

"That's still my dream but Lucy is the first person to believe that I can become Hokage. She's always coming to my rescue, always helping me with my homework, she's always there for me and I know that she's really sad for some reason and that she can't tell me why. I want to make all of her worries go away and I want her to keep smiling, that's my goal. Being Hokage to show off to the village may be my dream but making Lucy happy is my goal," Naruto said with determination as he looked at Lucy.

Ibiki was standing there in shock at his declaration, Naruto may look and act like an idiot but he's already figured out what's most important earlier than most people, "it sort of sounds like you're in love with her," Ibiki announced teasingly and Naruto began to blush at those words,

"No, not like that, I look at Lucy like family I swear," he hurriedly denied trying to keep the blush off of his face, Ibiki laughed as he turned to leave the room but made sure to leave a shadow clone outside of the room so that it could alert him or Kakashi if something happens.

 **With Kakashi**

Kakashi was walking towards the memorial stone after he had a shower, he couldn't sleep and he hadn't slept since before he went on his mission almost two days ago. Kakashi was running on empty but no matter how hard he tried to sleep it just wouldn't come.

 _'Rin, I've started having that nightmare again but the ending is a little different. Everything starts out the same but when I look up into your eyes, it's not you I'm looking at. It's Lucy,'_ Kakashi though silently to Rin, _'I'm terrified of it coming true, what do I do, Rin?'_ Kakashi desperately thought, hoping that his past teammate could somehow tell him the answer to all of his worries.

Once it started to get dark Kakashi headed back to the hospital to see Lucy hoping that she would be awake.

 **Meanwhile**

"Danzo, I thought that I made it clear that Lucy was to work under me," the Hokage said, "now you have sent three of my best and a spirited child into the hospital. Not to mention you and your ninja have all been injured," Lord Hokage said,

"She is a powerful asset that could greatly benefit the leaf, if you stopped being so soft and let her work under me," Danzo growled out from his place on the ground, his body covered in cuts and bruises from Lucy's attack,

"Lucy would work best under me, that is what the council and I agreed upon," the Hokage said gravely, "in the past, I have given you leeway because of our connection and friendship but you kidnapped and assaulted a child. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to send you into TI for questioning. Ibiki and Inoichi will be there waiting for you and I'll give you fair warning. They are both very fond of Miss Lucy," Lord Hokage said before walking away and leaving an angry and nervous Danzo Shimura behind.

 **Time Skip**

It has been one week and Lucy still wasn't waking up, the doctors had officially announced that she was in a coma. Naruto had only left Lucy to attend the academy and to sleep but he always ran straight back to her after getting some takeaway ramen to eat in her hospital room. Kakashi wasn't any better if he wasn't with her, he left Pakkun with her even if Naruto was there. Ibiki was as tense as usual but was contemplating telling the Hokage about Lucy's origins, the Hokage blames himself for the condition that Lucy is in. All of the Jonins have visited her at least once and Shikaku has even bought in Shikamaru and Choji to see her, what was strange though was that a boy would sit outside of Lucy's hospital room window and wait for the sun to go down before leaving. No one ever noticed that the boy was there except for Pakkun and because he didn't seem to be a threat he just left it alone.

This was one of the times that Kakashi left Pakkun with Lucy as he left for a mission, the Hokage was reluctant to give him one because of his lack of sleep. The bags underneath his eyes were building up and even creating bags of their own, he hasn't had his much trouble sleeping in a long time and needs to get his mind off of what happened with Danzo somehow. Currently, Pakkun was sleeping with his head in Lucy's lap, while Lucy lay perfectly still as she has been for the entire week that she's been unconscious. While in another part of the village Ibiki was contemplating what to do.

Ibiki was standing in front of the Hokage's office door, he had been standing there for a good five minutes before he finally decided to knock,

"Come in Ibiki," the Hokages tired voice called from inside the room and Ibiki walked inside,

"Lord Hokage, there's something you need to know about Lucy," Ibiki took a deep breath, "I know why she's in a coma," Ibiki looked up into the Hokages face and saw confusion written on it,

"Why haven't you said anything before now?"

"Because she asked me not too, the only reason why I'm telling you now is that it's dangerous," Ibiki said and went on to explain everything Lucy told him about Earth Land and ethernano, still leaving out Lucy's past mainly because it'll take too long to explain.

"And you believe all of this?" The Hokage asked him in disbelief,

"Every word, sir," Ibiki said and the Hokage only looked at him, "at first I didn't know if I did but if you saw Lucy when she explained all of this to me, you wouldn't doubt her either." Ibiki finished before he walked out of the Hokages office while Hiruzen thought about everything Ibiki said.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy has been in the coma for two weeks now and her condition hasn't changed, everyone is worried still. Since Ibiki told the Hokage about Lucy being from another world the Hokage has been trying to find a way to help her, however, because he doesn't know what ethernano looks like or even how to detect if he cannot get a healer that knows how to fix it.

Kakashi now sleeps at home but leaves Pakkun at the hospital, however, he still hasn't been able to sleep well. He always ends up getting up in the middle of the night to go to the memorial stone before visiting Lucy in the morning and then getting a mission to complete. Naruto visited Lucy after school to tell her about his day, hoping that she could somehow hear him and wake up. Ibiki doesn't visit Lucy anymore, he continues his day like before but he's secretly worried about her. Not that he would ever tell anyone that.

Today someone else decided to visit Lucy, someone who hasn't been before, Anko was sitting next to her ex-student looking guilty. Honestly, Anko has been avoiding Lucy ever since their talk in the dango shop, she didn't know how to face her. She took out her anger on Lucy, anger that she never deserved to receive. All because she was slightly jealous of the fact that Orochimaru tried so hard to keep Lucy for himself while he threw her away. All she could ever think about was why Orochimaru thought Lucy was so special, or what did Lucy have that she didn't but truth be told she already knows what makes Lucy special.

Lucy can make a connection with anyone she meets, wherever she goes she leaves some kind of mark. She made one of Orochimaru's workers care about her, she made Gai believe in her, she made Ibiki like her, she's best friends with Naruto and most surprisingly she's got Kakashi wrapped around her pretty little fingers. Even now Pakkun is watching over her in Kakashi's place.

Anko sighed as she places a stuffed toy, dog on the table beside her where all kinds of flowers are resting on. Before looking back at Lucy and started talking,

"Lucy, I know you probably can't hear me but I'm going to say this anyway and then I'm going to repeat it when you wake up," Anko took a deep breath, "I'm sorry for accusing you of going against the leaf and then for using you as bait. I let my emotions get the better of me when I should have been looking at how different you are compared to Orochimaru all I saw were the similarities in how you used your chakra. Just like him you're a ninjutsu type, just like him you're a genius and just like him you're a prodigy but that's all I saw and because of that I suspected you of using me just like he did," Anko paused here to take another deep breath, "I didn't bother to see that you put everyone above yourself or that you will do anything to keep people safe even if it means you lose your life. When you told me that your dream was to find someone from your past and to go on more adventures with them I thought that you meant someone connected to Orochimaru. I know now that it's not, I know now that you would never hurt anyone just to achieve your goals. Lucy, you are someone that I admire and I want to be friends with you again. Please, Lucy, I need you to wake up soon, we all do." with that Anko quickly made her way out of the hospital room.


	13. Chapter 13

The day after Anko came to visit Lucy in the hospital Kakashi came by to see her before he went on a mission. This was the last mission for awhile because the Hokage has noticed his severe lack of sleep, so it was decided that Kakashi take at least a week off. Kakashi removed Lucy's hair away from her still closed eyes and pat Pakkun on the head before leaving the room. In the hallway, he passed by Naruto who was supposed to be on his way to the academy and Kakashi tried to keep his eyes forward. Naruto, however, didn't notice how uncomfortable Kakashi became in his presence and continued to walk towards Lucy's hospital room.

 **Time Skip**

A few hours after Naruto visited Lucy, Pakkun woke up from his morning nap, he's been by Lucy's side almost 24/7 since she was admitted. Kakashi only stayed at the hospital for a couple hours at a time before summoning him again, he could get one of Kakashi's other dogs to come in his place but if he was being honest he was just as worried as Kakashi was about Lucy. The doctors can't find anything wrong with her so that made everything even more complicated, if they knew then they could have a chance at fixing it but because nothing has come up on the autopsies that they've done they don't even know where to begin.

Everyone was becoming worried and frustrated about not getting any answers, Pakkun sighed and was about to go back to sleep he heard a groan. His head perked up and he stared at Lucy intensely, after a few minutes he put his head back down on her lap in disappointment only to feel a hand on his head a moment later. He perked up again instantly and stared into tired chocolate, brown eyes,

"Hey Pakkun, what have I missed?" Lucy asked him with a scratchy voice and Pakkun excitedly jumped onto her chest to lick her face, "ew, Pakkun I love you but gross," Lucy cried out as slobber was running down her cheeks,

"Sorry Lucy, it's just we've all been worried about you," Pakkun replied as he regained his senses and sat back on her lap,

"Why to have... nevermind, Pakkun I think it's time I introduce you to my own dog summons," Lucy said excitedly, she's been wanting to summon Plu in front of Pakkun for a while, not even Kakashi has met him yet.

 **Time Skip**

Kakashi was walking back into the village and immediately set a course for the hospital to see Lucy before going home to have a shower as he usually did before going to report to the Hokage about his mission. The walk to the hospital was slow, considering that it was his last mission for a while before he was stuck at home with nothing to take his mind off of things.

Once outside of Lucy's room he heard yelling from inside and was confused, the voices sounded familiar. Opening the door he was greeted with Lucy and Pakkun arguing while Lucy was holding a little snowman, Kakashi halted his step as he stared at Lucy wide-eyed,

"He is too a dog," Lucy yelled at Pakkun and Pakkun growled before roughly answering her,

"How can he be a dog? He has a carrot for a nose," he yelled back at her,

"So you've got like fifty chins and you're still a dog," Lucy yelled back and Pakkun looked insulted,

"That's because I'm a pug, I'm supposed to be a little chubby," Pakkun replied and Lucy scoffed,

"Plu is of the Nikora species, they all look like this except for some colour variation," Lucy said smugly,

"So his species is a Nikora, that means he's not a canine," Pakkun argued back,

"He is too, he's just the cutest little doggy I've ever seen," Lucy cued a Plu and Pakkun sweatdropped at Lucy before Lucy noticed Kakashi standing at the door, "Kakashi, can you please talk some sense into your summons, he keeps saying that Plu's not a dog," Lucy whined to Kakashi who still hasn't moved from his spot,

"You really need glasses, Lucy," Pakkun said and Lucy got a tick mark on her forehead before she grabbed Pakkun by his cheeks and started to tug on them,

"You really need to watch your mouth you mangy mutt," Lucy growled out still continuing to tug on Pakkun cheeks when suddenly she felt arms moving around her small form and holding her to a warm body. Stopping her assault on Pakkun she looked up to find Kakashi holding her to him, one of his hands were on the back of her head and the other was gripping her shoulder, "Kakashi, are you okay? What happened?" Lucy asked confused,

"What do you mean what happened? Lucy, you've been unconscious for over two weeks now," Kakashi said and Lucy stiffened up,

"Two weeks?" Lucy questioned in disbelief and Kakashi pulled back to look at Pakkun,

"You didn't tell her?"

"We were kind of in the middle of an argument," was Pakkun's nonchalant reply and Kakashi sweatdropped slightly before looking at Lucy once again. Lucy was looking at him worry and he was about to ask before she grabbed the sides of his face and ran her thumb under his visible eye,

"Kakashi, please tell me that you've been sleeping," Lucy said in concern and Kakashi looked away slightly guilty. Lucy sighed before she let go of his masked face and sat back with Plu in her lap.

"Lucy, what is that?" Kakashi asked while pointing at Plu, Lucy got a tick mark on her forehead and Pakkun started laughing loudly,

 **Time Skip**

"Kakashi go home and sleep, honestly you look like you've aged 10 years in the last two weeks," Lucy complained a few hours after Kakashi came into her room, "not only that but you smell, you need to have a shower,"

"So you keep telling me," Kakashi droned out boredly from his spot on the chair next to Lucy's bed, reading his usual book that still makes Lucy blush whenever she sees it.

"Are you going to maybe, I don't know, listen to me," Lucy stated loudly in annoyance, Plu and Pakkun had long since returned to their homes,

"Not until the doctors confirm that you're okay," Kakashi stated,

"I feel fine, just go home and get some rest. Come back tomorrow to talk to the doctors," Lucy tried once more to get him to leave but before Kakashi could refuse once again the office door opened to reveal Ibiki and the Hokage.

"Young Lucy is right Kakashi, you should go rest," the Hokage said to Kakashi as he walked through the door, Kakashi moved to sit on Lucy's bed next to her. Lucy looked at Kakashi in confusion before turning her attention back to Lord Hokage,

"Hello, Ibiki, Lord Hokage. What brings you here?" Lucy asked politely and the Hokage answered,

"Well I was notified that you were awake and came to see how you were, I also have something that I wish to discuss with you," The Hokage said and before Lucy could answer Kakashi beat her to it,

"Absolutely not, she just woke up today. Can't she just have one carefree day where she doesn't have to worry about anything but herself," Kakashi said sternly and Lucy scoffed,

"That's kind of hard when someone won't sleep," Lucy grumbled so that Kakashi could clearly hear her,

"I said I'll sleep when I know what the doctor says," Kakashi grumbles back to her and Lucy huffed and crossed her arms over her chest in defiance. Ignoring her Kakashi turned back to the Hokage and Ibiki to see them looking back at Kakashi,

"I'm afraid I must insist Kakashi, this is of utmost importance," Lord Hokage said,

"It'll just have to wait until tomorrow," Kakashi said and Lucy looked uncomfortable and a little angry but didn't want to start an argument until Kakashi has slept.

"Very well I'll just say this, Lucy I have decided that until we can come to an agreement on what we'll be discussing tomorrow you will be attending the academy to help the teachers with their students taijutsu and weapons training," the Hokage said and before Lucy could say anything the door opened again to reveal a doctor with a clipboard in hand,

"Ah, Lord Hokage what a pleasure to see you," the doctor said bowing his head, "now who here is Miss Heartfilia's guardian?" The doctor asked looking towards the three men and before anyone else could say anything Kakashi spoke up,

"That would be me," he said tensely and Lucy looked at him weirdly, while Ibiki stifled a laugh.

"Okay then, we cannot find anything wrong with Lucy however that was also the case when she was still unconscious so we would like for her to come in for a checkup each week for the next month or so to see if there is anything potentially dangerous going on," the doctor started to explain, "other than that Lucy may leave when she feels like it, here is the waver, just sign it and return it to the receptionist before you leave," the doctor said passing a couple of pieces of paper to Kakashi before leaving.

Kakashi quickly sighed the papers before he hooked his left arm under Lucy's legs and lifted her up. Still holding Lucy in his left arm he walked out of the hospital room without saying anything to either Ibiki nor the Hokage while Lucy waved at them in slight confusion over Kakashi's shoulder. Ibiki waved back slightly before laughing at the situation, _'it seems Kakashi still feels slightly threatened by my connection with Lucy,'_ Ibiki thought to himself as he watched Kakashi and Lucy round the hospital hallway corner.

"You seem to be enjoying Kakashi's agitation with you, Ibiki," Lord Hokage interrupted his thoughts,

"I'm amused by the reason for his agitation," Ibiki simply said before walking away.

At the reception desk, Kakashi was trying to pass the waver sheets to the receptionist however, the young women at the counter who couldn't be any older than 20 kept trying to make conversation with him. Lucy who was still sitting on his left arm was attempting to hide her giggles with her hand but occasionally let a snorting sound out. They had been there for about 10 minutes and during that 10 minutes, Kakashi has gotten annoyed with the girl who kept batting her eyes at him and was ready to just leave before Lucy decided to take control of the situation.

Getting down from Kakashi's arm Lucy stood up on her tippy toes to try and peek over the desk before tilting her head to the left and putting an innocent look on her face, "Excuse me," Lucy said sweetly and Kakashi raised his one visible eyebrow,

"Yes sugar?" the receptionist asked Lucy, leaning forward to be able to see Lucy over the desk,

"Can you please take my forms, we have to go home. You see my big brother needs a nap from overworking himself, I need to make sure that he gets home and goes to bed," Lucy said deliberately stumbling over some of the words and made sure to add a satisfied nod at the end of her explanation. The receptionist got hearts in her eyes at the sight of Lucy trying to take care of her 'big brother', while Kakashi was slightly impressed and flushed at what she was saying.

"Oh of course sugar, here let me take those," the receptionist said and Lucy happily passed over the waver before taking Kakashi's hand and started walking away but not before waving cutely at the receptionist behind her. Once outside Lucy let go of Kakashi's hand and turned to him,

"Piece of cake," was all she said before she started walking in the direction of Kakashi's house. With Kakashi staring at her back amused by her actions and still flushed.

 **Time Skip**

The next day Lucy got up and quickly made her way towards the Hokages office before Kakashi could wake up and demand that she take someone with her. Yesterday after getting home from the hospital Kakashi started laying out more rules and one of them included taking Pakkun with her wherever she goes. That one made Lucy snap, there was no way that she was going to listen to that rule. She didn't speak to Kakashi for the rest of the night after that, no matter how hard he tried, not until he revoked the rule would she even consider looking at him without anger in her eyes.

Running towards the Hokages office to try and talk with him quickly because Lucy wanted to try and find Naruto afterwards. She didn't get to see him yesterday and she was told that came by to see her every day since she was admitted. Lucy didn't want to worry him. Lucy knocked on the Hokages door and waited for his permission to enter.

Once he called her inside she walked through the door to find both the Hokage and Ibiki there waiting for her,

"You seemed quite eager to speak with me yesterday Lord Hokage, what is it that you would like to discuss?" Lucy asked politely as she sat in front of his desk,

"Firstly I would like to speak with you about Danzo," The Hokage said and Lucy stiffened slightly at the mention of him, "after you were admitted into the hospital I sent Danzo down into interrogation and I don't know how he's done it but he's managed to spin this whole thing around to his favour. The elders have all agreed to let this go and I'm afraid to say that because of his position no charges have been placed," the Hokage explains in distress and Lucy sighed deeply,

"I honestly expected that someone of his position would likely have some sort of fail-safe but if I could make a suggestion and ask to have a restraining order be placed," Lucy said firmly, Lord Hokage and Ibiki both looked surprised at this, "it would be fairly simple for me to obtain one, if I go through interrogation as well. Just to see the conversation that led to the kidnapping and everything after that, if this happens then I can have a restraining order be placed for him and anyone presently working for him," she said,

"Presently?" The Hokage questioned,

"Yes, I know about the cursed seals and I know that another who currently works under you has one. I would still like to be able to speak with him face to face if you don't mind," Lucy replied suddenly feeling tired. _'Honestly, this place is full on, it's just one thing after the other. If it's not the villagers then it's the ninja if not them then it's the Hokage, it's even been a rogue ninja. What's it going to be next, a love triangle?'_ Lucy thought to herself.

"It might take some time but I'm sure it can be arranged my dear," Lord Hokage said and broke Lucy out of her thoughts, "now onto the next thing I wanted to discuss with you," he said and at this Ibiki looked away, Lucy stared at him for a few minutes before sighing heavily,

"I think I know what it's about," she grumbled,

"Ibiki told me about a week into your hospitalisation, said the only reason he told me was because he feared for your safety," the Hokage said to her, "and I have to say that I'm not sure if I fully believe it but there was no other way to explain why you were still in the hospital," he continued,

"Everything he said was true, I'm sure I could explain it in simpler terms for you though," Lucy said gently and began her long explanation of where she grew up for the second time.

 **Time Skip**

After Lucy had finished explaining everything and answering some questions that the Hokage had she watched as he sat back on his chair and took a puff from his pipe,

"So you come from a world with magic, your summons are actually a form of magic and you came here through a portal by a rusted old key, where you changed from an 18 almost 19-year-old girl to a 6-year-old girl and your theory about that is because the amount of magic in this world is so small that your body adapted to keep the magic in your body from becoming unstable and overworking itself," the Hokage summed up,

"Yes," was Lucy's quiet reply,

"I see," was all the Hokage said, "Lucy, I only want you to use your magic when absolutely necessary, until we can find a way for you to use it freely without consequence," the Hokage explained and Lucy looked up at him in surprise, "also do you remember what I told you in the hospital yesterday?" Lucy nodded her head yes, "well I think it would be best if you go there unless I specifically ask for you to go on a mission. Now let's discuss what role you'll be playing at the ninja academy," the Hokage said and completely changed the subject.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy happily walked through the front door of Kakashi's place and was immediately faced with an angry face, still not talking to Kakashi though, Lucy completely ignored him and walked straight past him.

"And where do you think you're going?" Kakashi growled out and places himself in Lucy's path again,

"To my room, or do I need a chaperone for that as well?" Lucy asked sarcastically, drawing out the words and putting an annoyed look on her face,

"Now listen here Lucy, the agreement was you take Pakkun with you when you leave the house,"

"Agreement? What agreement? All you did was tell me what to do and I refused. End of story, I'm not taking Pakkun everywhere I go. I get him being here if you're on a mission but I don't need a full-time babysitter," Lucy yelled back at him,

"Well tough, that's what's going to happen. Trouble seems to follow you everywhere you go, Lucy, every time I turn around you either get hurt or kidnapped," he yelled back at her,

"So what, it has nothing to do with you," she yelled louder,

"Nothing to do with me? I'm your guardian, you are living under my roof and you're going to follow my rules," his voice was getting louder,

"Guardian? Oh please is that what you are? Not the spy who goes to the Hokage with every little development? Not the one who's supposed to inform any suspicious activity?" Lucy said shrewdly and Kakashi took a step back, slightly hurt, "You honestly think that I'm stupid enough to not know that this is a mission?" Lucy rhetorically asked, "You have no right to dictate what goes on in my life," she yelled and Kakashi was looking at her shocked,

"Lucy," Kakashi whispered, "come on let's go sit down and talk," he tried to reason with her but she'd heard enough. Lucy shook her head no before running up to her room and slamming the door behind her.

Kakashi sighed as he heard her door slam shut, "why couldn't she be a boy?" He grumbled as he made his way to his own room.

 **Time Skip**

The next day Lucy was getting ready to go to the academy, the Hokage told her that she would be helping out Naruto's class. Something Lucy was excited about, she wanted to help Naruto improve and become Hokage; she didn't know why but Lucy had a great feeling that Naruto was going to change the ninja world. Which had become her goal before she went back to Earth Land, to change this ninja world?

Creeping downstairs to hopefully avoid Kakashi but as luck would have it she ran straight into him as she tried to sneak past the living room,

"Lucy, can we please talk?" Kakashi asked quietly as Lucy tried to avoid looking at him,

"I really need to get going, the first day helping at the academy," she said hurriedly before trying to race put out of the door but Kakashi grabbed her arm before she could get too far,

"No Lucy, we need to talk," he said before pulling her into the living room and sitting on the couch, "Look I know that I might have overstepped some bounds but you need to know that I'm kinda new to this whole guardian thing," Kakashi said as he tried to explain himself,

"Oh really, I had no idea," she grumbled sarcastically, impatient and ready to leave, _'who does he think he is? I know that he thinks that I'm eight years old but I think I've proven that I can take care of myself,'_ Lucy thought to herself,

"Lucy," Kakashi groaned out when he heard her response and sighed before he continued, "Look, there are a lot of issues that we need to talk about but I want to get one thing straight with you. I volunteered to take care of you Lucy," Kakashi stated firmly while he looked at her and Lucy looked at him slightly shocked. Out of everything that was said yesterday he wanted to talk about that,

"Why?" Was all she could ask,

"I honestly don't know, even I was surprised. I had never shown any interest in children let alone caring for one. For some reason, though I just felt like I had to do it," Lucy frowned at that slightly offended. Kakashi saw this and tried to explain better, "No, that's not what I meant, I didn't feel like you needed looking after or anything like that will not back then," Kakashi trailed off and Lucy's frown deepened, "I'm just making things worse aren't I?" Kakashi sighed, "Look I know I'm terrible at this but I'm doing the best I can Lucy," Kakashi said in a defeated tone and Lucy felt bad for making things difficult for him but he just couldn't hover over her shoulder every second of every day and she wasn't going to humour him either,

"Kakashi, I know it probably seems like I'm making things more difficult then it needs to be," Lucy started and Kakashi had to hold back from voicing his thoughts, "but you have to understand that I've been on my own for what feels like so long that I know how to take care of myself. I'm not saying that I don't appreciate what you do I'm just saying that you can't hover over me all of the time. It's unrealistic not to mention ridiculous, you can't be there all of the time and sometimes bad things are going to happen. You can't stop these things and neither can I, I've just learnt how to get myself out of these situations," Lucy explained to him and Kakashi sighed heavily. He knew that she was right but he still felt as if she needed supervision, she got kidnapped in his home. A place that's meant to be safe for her, it's caused him to be a little more paranoid than he'd like to admit.

"I'm still leaving Pakkun here when I go on missions," Kakashi conceded and Lucy nodded,

"Understandable,"

"And you have to be home no later than an hour after the sun goes down," Kakashi demanded,

"Alright," Lucy sighed,

"You need to leave me a note if you're going to stay at a friends place," he continued and Lucy nodded, "and if you're going to the training grounds I would like it if you could take someone with you or maybe call out a summons, you tend to overwork yourself at least this way you have some sort of protection," Kakashi finished off and Lucy agreed begrudgingly,

"Is that it because I really need to get going?" Lucy questioned hastily as she got up from the couch and started the inch towards the door,

"Actually there's one more thing, I want to walk you to the academy today," Kakashi said and Lucy looked at him confused,

"Why?"

"Well it's your first day and while I know you're not technically a student I thought I would still take you," Kakashi said quickly turning away from her slightly so that she didn't see he had become flushed but Lucy caught it anyway,

"Aww Kakashi," she cooed and attached herself to his arm, Kakashi sweatdropped at her and she laughed at him, "you're just a huge marshmallow aren't you?" Lucy said in a sweet and teasing voice,

"Let's just go already?" Kakashi grumbles before he shook her off of his arm and made his way to the front door with Lucy giggling behind him.

Once Lucy and Kakashi had made it to the front of the academy Kakashi was deeply regretting walking Lucy there. The entire time she teased him for being soft and while he couldn't exactly deny any of her claims he certainly didn't want to be reminded of it. Kakashi and Lucy had just walked by Gai and Lucy, despite seeing Kakashi trying to push her towards the academy quickly decided to talk to him.

"Hello Gai," Lucy said as she walked up to him and what looked to be his Genin team. They just graduated from the academy,

"Ah, my youthful little flower, how have you been?" Gai dramatically said as he held up his thumb and winked at her,

"I've been well, it's my first day of helping out at the academy," she exclaimed excitedly and one of the brand new Genins scoffed from behind Gai, he had long black hair and pure white eyes that had a hint of lavender to them. They looked like they didn't have a pupil but if you looked closely you could see that the lavender gets slightly darker around the middle of his eye, you wouldn't be able to tell if you weren't paying attention,

"Helping out? What can a weak looking little girl such as yourself help with?" He snarled at her and Lucy was taken aback by his apparent animosity towards her, the newly appointed female Genin of the group winced slightly and shot Lucy an apologetic glance but said nothing. The second boy of the group with the unusually large eyebrows and bowl haircut looked at her for a second as if contemplating the other boy's words before grinning.

"I am the handsome Rock Lee of Konoha, a pleasure to meet you," he said while holding up his thumb dramatically towards her, Lucy sweatdropped internally and laughed nervously.

 _'Great another Gai,'_ she thought to herself, _'one is hard enough to handle,'_ her thoughts continued as she smiled at the boy who would no doubt be a taijutsu master with the proper training, "It's nice to meet you I'm Lucy," she said, completely ignoring the first boys words and he looked completely surprised. After Gai introduced his new students to Lucy and Kakashi they quickly walked towards the academy to doors. Once there Kakashi said a quick goodbye before leaving, most likely so he doesn't have to talk to any more people.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy was currently standing in front of Naruto's class waiting for Iruka to introduce her. Everyone was staring at her slightly surprised that their new student teacher was younger than them and some of the girls were even glaring at her. Especially the ones that have seen Sasuke around her, speaking of Sasuke, he was staring at her with wide eyes. Lucy didn't know if that was because he was surprised to see that the new student teacher was her or if he was just surprised to see her in general.

"Lucy," she heard an excited voice yell and looked over to see an overly excited Naruto looking like he was physically keeping himself from lunging himself at her, she smiled happily before waving at him kindly. Then she waved at Shikamaru and Choji who were sitting behind Naruto.

"Everyone this is Lucy, she will be helping out with your taijutsu and weapons training for a while. I hope you will all welcome her nicely," he directed the last part to the girls who were glaring at her. Especially after seeing Sasuke start to smirk at the mention of Lucy helping him with his taijutsu as he wanted.

Iruka had then started the lesson and Lucy paid close attention to what Iruka was teaching. It was a brief explanation of chakra, the explanation was a lot simpler than what Axal had told her when she first started but she also started while learning how to use it. Axal believed in learning on the 'job' you could say, she had a feeling that's the reason Naruto is falling behind. He seems like a person that would greatly benefit from learning whilst using it practically.

"Iruka may I make a suggestion?" Lucy asked cautiously, not wanting to overstep her boundaries,

"If you think it could help then go ahead," Iruka said gently noticing that Lucy was quite nervous,

"Well maybe some of the students would understand more from a demonstration, you could explain what's happening while it happens," Lucy said and subtly glanced at Naruto who suddenly perked up at the idea of seeing some action. Iruka looked around at some of the students and noticed that a lot of them that would usually get bored during class looked to be paying more attention than usual, except Shikamaru of course.

"That's a wonderful suggestion, Lucy, let's go outside," Iruka said as he started walking towards the door.

Once everyone was outside they lined up along the side of the Academy building and waited for Iruka's instructions,

"Alright, Lucy do you want to do the demonstration while I explain what's going on?" Iruka asked but knew that she would do it anyway. She nodded at him and whispered what she was going to be doing in his ear before she walked in front of a tree but still facing the class and gave Iruka a thumbs up.

"Alright class, chakra is natural energy that resides in both our bodies and the physical world. Once both the energy within our bodies and the within the physical world are flowing in the same direction we can then use hand signs to control its form," Iruka started to explain, Lucy closed her eyes and created the tiger hand sign in front of her face before she opened her eyes again. This time they were glowing gold and one of her veins on the side of each of her eyes popped out, the whole class was in awe of this but two, in particular, was very interested in her dojutsu.

"Now notice how she concentrated her chakra by using her hand sign in order for the chakra to move into her eyes and activate her dojutsu," Iruka explained. Lucy let the chakra dissipate from her eyes as she still hasn't gotten the hang of using them, that and it felt creepy to look at everybody's intestines. "Once you become good enough at controlling chakra you can use it to create ninjutsu, some people can use it at such a level that it becomes visible to everyone around them such as healing ninjutsu," Iruka continues and Lucy moved a mass amount of chakra into her hand that had her ninja headband tied around the wrist.

Lucy's hand started to glow a bright blue, with hints of gold gliding off of the ends. Something that Lucy had never noticed before, deciding to leave it for later she turned around to face the tree as Iruka started to explain what happened if you can release the chakra in a timed attack. Lucy took a deep breath and moved to punch the tree, afterwards she moved back slightly and for a moment nothing happened and some of the girls started to snicker at her. That was before the tree exploded, everyone had to close their eyes so that bark didn't end up in them.

"Alright now that you know what chakra can do we can take a short break," Iruka announced and as soon as he was back inside Naruto was in front of her going on and on about how cool she was and about how worried he was for her when she was in the hospital. They ended up talking for a little while but then Naruto got distracted by the smell of ramen.

As soon, as he left though Sasuke, was suddenly in front of her and she had to step back in surprise, "Oh, hello Sasuke how have you been?" Lucy asked him but as usual, she didn't get a real reply out of him, he only shoved a brown gift bag into her hands, "what's this for?" Lucy asked him and he looked away embarrassed,

"I found out a couple of days ago about you in the hospital, I was going to drop that off to you today," he grumbled out,

"Wow, thank you Sasuke," Lucy said smiling and she opened the bag to find an adorable plush strawberry inside, "It's so cute," Lucy said happily as she hugged it to her, "thanks Sasuke," she continued and he nodded his head before turning around and walking away, not even bothering to acknowledge the fangirls that were glaring at Lucy. Lucy could take care of herself, she would be fine.

The bleach blonde girl that keeps silently glaring at Lucy whenever she sees Lucy stormed up to her once Sasuke left. She looked to have a nice figure for a pre-teen but the way she scrunched up her face made her look like a pig.

"You're obviously new to the village so you don't know who I am. My name is Ino Yamanaka and you've been hanging around my Sasuke, haven't you? Well just like I told billboard brow I'll tell you, he's mine. Now run along like a good little girl and stay away from him," Ino snarled at her and Lucy smiled brightly at her,

"Sasuke is a human being, it's illegal to own someone. Have you committed a crime Ino?" Lucy questioned her still smiling brightly

"Umm," Ino stuttered out and all of Sasuke's fangirls giggled behind Ino with their hands covering their mouths. One of the sniggering girls walked up to them, she had pretty pink hair and an unusually large forehead, but her pretty green eyes took the attention away from it. However, her haughty attitude made her seem very self-centred.

"You're just trying to steal Sasuke from us by showing off listen here blondie he's mine. Besides you're just a child, what makes you think that he'll be interested in you?" Sakura droned on with sass and Lucy was sitting there looking bored,

"Do you girls ever stop talking?" Lucy asked instead of responding to her accusations about her involvement with Sasuke, everyone around them started laughing and Sakura blushed bright red from embarrassment and anger,

"Ha, serves you right billboard brow," the snarly voice of Ino sounded out,

"What did you just say, Ino-pig?" Sakura said as she appeared next to Ino and they smashed their foreheads together. Lucy sweatdropped and made her way towards Shikamaru and Choji, the latter of which offered her one of his chips.

Kiba laughed as he saw Lucy humiliate Ino and Sakura. That's not something you see every day, it's also a surprise that she doesn't obsess over Sasuke herself. In fact, it seemed like Sasuke was more interested in her then she is him, "Hey Akamaru, she seems pretty cool, right?" He asked the pup sitting on his head and Akamaru barked in response.

"That's a cute dog, what's his name?" Lucy asked Kiba suddenly and he jumped up startled when he realised that she was right in front of him,

"Akamaru," Kiba stuttered out, _'wasn't she just with Choji and Shikamaru?'_ He thought to himself,

"Aww he's just so cute, yes you are you could put that mangy mutt Pakkun to shame," Lucy cooed as she pats Akamaru's head and Akamaru ate up the attention, Kiba sweatdropped at his partner but smiled and introduced himself,

"I'm Kiba, fastest in the academy," he states proudly and Lucy smiled in response before going back to what she was doing.

"Your name is Shino Aburame, right? I've met someone from your family before, you guys specialise in bugs," Lucy announced out loud as everyone was going back inside to start the next lesson

Shin nodded his head but still didn't say anything as Lucy smiled at him in response and walked away to join Naruto at his table.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy was about to walk home from the academy when she heard what sounded like someone hitting something from inside the trees that surrounded the back of the academy. Walking over she saw a dark blue almost black haired girl hitting a tree with open palms, which Lucy thought was strange.

"Hi, you seem familiar, I'm Lucy," she introduced herself and the girl jumped startled,

"I-I'm Hinata Hyuga, it's n-nice to meet y-you," she stuttered out and turned bright red,

"May I ask what you are doing?" Lucy asked her,

"I-I'm practising my families taijutsu style," Hinata stuttered out,

"You're a family has its own fighting style? Can I assume that you're from a clan then?" Lucy asked taking a seat on the grass and motioning for Hinata to do the same,

"Y-yeah, we have a kekkei Genkai that is supposed to be used with it," Hinata said and began to explain what the byakugan was and how it worked. Lucy soaked up the information like a sponge,

"Wow, it sounds very similar to my dojutsu. I just found out about mine though, I haven't been able to explore it's limited yet," Lucy said and Hinata looked at her surprised, "my eyes allow me to see the insides of people bodies, like your muscles and blood veins, I can't see the chakra network nor have I tried to look through objects," Lucy said with a thoughtful look on her face, the girls then started to talk to one another about their lives. Lucy keeping out the fact that she's from another world, "I kind of understands your situation Hinata, my father always overlooked me for work. He was a businessman, he neglected me my entire childhood. I'm sorry about your situation and I wish I could help you," Lucy to her kindly and Hinata smiled,

"Hinata I want to help you train," Lucy announced suddenly and Hinata looked at her in surprise,

"M-me?" Hinata asks her unsure, _'why would she ask me?'_ Were her silent thoughts,

"Yes you, Hinata I know you don't see it but I see a fighter in you. Maybe not the type of fighter your cousin is but the type of fighter that will give it their all despite what the outcome may be," Lucy said firmly and Hinata looked at her in surprise before a blush coated her face, "Hinata, I see someone who is determined to put everything into training, while I don't know why I do know that you are probably the only girl in this class that works as hard as you do to achieve their goal. That's the type of person I want to fight beside," Lucy said smiling, "So what do you say?" Lucy asked with a bright smile while holding out her hand for Hinata to shake,

"I-I'll be i-in y-your c-care from n-now on," Hinata said to her in her usual stutter,

"Alright, we start training on the weekends," Lucy announced before running off while waving behind her.

For the rest of the week, Lucy had attended the academy, helping Naruto with his homework, getting to know Hinata and even sparring with Sasuke. Lucy soon figured out that she couldn't stop him from whatever his goalmay be but maybe she could convince him that he didn't have to do it alone. All the while Ino and Sakura became quite aggressive towards Lucy even going so far as to gather Sasuke's fangirls and corner her after the academy let out, which is where she is now.

"You think you're so great because Sasuke is spending time with you," Ino snarled and Sakura glared at her while the other fangirls agreed with them. Lucy held up her hands in front of her, she didn't want to hurt any of them. They were only little girls, however, she would defend herself if she had too.

"Whats going on over here," a bored but smooth voice said as it makes its way through the crowd of fangirls, once they reached where Lucy was being cornered they saw that it was, in fact, Sasuke that asked the question. He frowned looking at Lucy while Ino and Sakura got hearts in their eyes,

"We're just proving to her that she's not as great as she thinks she is Sasuke, don't you think she needs to be taught a lesson," Ino said but Sakura looked a little hesitant to tell Sasuke what they were doing, she knew that he liked Lucy and didn't want him to hate her.

"Get lost," Sasuke said as he went to stand in front of Lucy,

"What? But Sasuke," Ino started to say but Sasuke glared at them before taking Lucy's hand and dragging her through the crowd of shocked fangirls, Sakura avoided looking at Lucy and Sasuke as the walked past her. Lucy was surprised by Sasuke's actions, he's usually not one to get involved with matters that are of Jo interest to him,

"Sasuke?" Lucy asked him as he continued to pull her out of the academy,

"You didn't want to hurt them, right?" He suddenly questioned her, though it sounded more like a statement, "I don't really get why but you love all life. Even if it hurts you," he mumbled to her and Lucy was even more surprised by his words,

"Thank you Sasuke," Lucy said smiling wide and Sasuke turned away from her and tsked,

"You were late to training, that's all this was," he growled out as he let go of her hand and started speed walking towards the training grounds, Lucy followed behind him giggling.

 **Time Skip**

That weekend was Hinata's first training session with Lucy, she had been preparing for it all week. Hinata didn't want to disappoint Lucy, after all, she said and the trust that she has placed in her. Lucy, however, was going over everything that Hinata told her about the Byakugan and was trying to figure out how her dojutsu relates to it, hers could be distantly related to it somehow. Maybe Lucy could ask Hinata to train her in her families taijutsu style, it could help Lucy use her dojutsu properly.

"L-lucy, hello," a sweet yet timid voice broke her out of her thoughts. Lucy turned to find Hinata shyly looking up at her,

"Hinata, I was just thinking about you, are you ready to start?" She asked the shy girl and after seeing her nod Lucy asked her to spar with her so that she could get an idea of what she needed to work on.

Hinata was breathing heavily and had her hands resting on her knees, while Lucy was slightly winded but was thinking about what Hinata's taijutsu style focused on,

"Okay, I think I understand what your taijutsu aims for because you can see into the chakra network you try to puncture it to block its flow. Like pinching a nerve point, however, the stance you take is strong and steady; it relies on the user's strength." Lucy said and Hinata looked at her in surprise at how she figured it out, "Hinata your body isn't built for strength, I think that's where you mess up," Lucy said and Hinata looked down at the ground disappointed, thinking that she had let Lucy down, "That's not your fault, it's just the way it is. However, I think I might be able to come up with a way for you to use your taijutsu and kekkei Genkai in a way that no one will expect," Lucy announced and Hinata looked up at her, "first things first though, is that I would like to speak with your father about a few things,"

 **Time Skip**

"Mr Hyuga my name is Lucy Heartfilia and I would like your permission to research and know insider knowledge about your clan," Lucy said politely and professionally,

"You dare come into my home and start demanding things," he snarled out and looked towards Hinata in anger, she flinched under his gaze and hid slightly behind Lucy who was now looking very sternly at Hinata's father.

"I have done no such thing, I was asking for permission. Believe me when I say I know that some things need to be kept secret. However, I have an idea that may help with Lady Hinata's training, but I need to know more about her kekkei Genkai and the fighting style that you use in order to modify it for her convenience. I would also like your permission to use your clans knowledge to further my own training in my dojutsu," Lucy requested, not bothering to beat around the bush,

"Are you saying that my ancestor's teachings are not up to standard for Hinata to learn?" He growled out, ignoring everything else that Lucy said. Lucy sighed and looked at Hiashi Hyuga,

"I'm saying that everyone is different and some people strive on different teachings, I've noticed some things about Hinata's fighting style that is holding her back. If I could modify some of the teachings I think she would be a very strong opponent,"

"What would I get out of giving you clan secrets to use at your disposal," Lucy smiled as he said this, it meant that if he agreed she would be able to use it as well,

"I am currently training in medical ninjutsu, I could be your clan's personal doctor. Wouldn't be beneficial to have someone who has insider knowledge on your clan and how your chakra and eyes work to heal you? Currently I am not confident that I could perform anything major but I can heal up anything minor or something that may need stitches," Lucy proposes and Hiashi strokes his chin in thought,

"Come back to me when you can perform high-level stuff and then we can talk," he said finally and Lucy smiled slightly, knowing that he was already agreeing to her idea. Lucy nodded her head and was about to get up and leave but before she did she asked him something,

"Before I go I would like to know the chakra nature that your family primarily has,"

"Earth," Hiashi said and with that Lucy bowed and left the room. Returning home that night Lucy was looking around for some chakra paper for Hinata, if her hunch was right then she needed to know her chakra nature,

"Lucy what are you doing?" Lucy heard Kakashi ask her,

"I'm looking for some chakra paper, do you have any?"

"Yea, hold on I'll get it," Kakashi replied before he went upstairs, grabbed a spare ninja pouch and went back down to Lucy, "here,"

"Thanks," Lucy said,

"What do you need it for?" He asked her as he sat down next to her on the couch,

"Oh, I'm helping a student from the academy train on the weekends and I would like to know her chakra nature," Lucy explained, "what's your chakra nature Kakashi?" She asked him and instead of telling her he grabbed one of the pieces of paper between his pointer and middle finger and the paper crinkled up, "you're a lightning type," she stated excitedly and Kakashi nodded,

"I'm curious to see what happens when you try, I know that you have two chakra natures but I've never seen it on paper before," he said and Lucy grabbed a piece of the chakra paper in both of her hands and pushed a small amount of chakra into her fingers. The paper split in half then one-half crinkled but the other half got all soggy, Lucy frowned when this happened, "I thought you said you had two chakra natures," Kakashi said,

"I did," she replied and looked at Kakashi in confusion, "do you know how this is possible?" She asked him but Kakashi shook his head, no,

"I've never heard of anyone just unlocking a chakra nature before, being able to use more than one year but this paper is meant to let the user know which nature they are prominent in. Not show which ones they can use," Kakashi said deep in thought,

"This ninja thing is making me more and more confused," Lucy grumbled and Kakashi looked at her in slight confusion. Seeing this Lucy continued, "I just, I thought I knew who I was," Lucy whispered out and took a deep breath, "ever since I came to the village or even since I first met Axal, I started to change. All of these things about myself started to change, I have a dojutsu which no one knows anything about, I was born with two chakra natures and apparently can unlock more of them, I've trusted people and been betrayed, I've had to use my knowledge of politics which is something I ran away from. I've made friends and most people, more so than I already had and while all of this has been going on I've become different somehow," Lucy rambled to Kakashi and he suddenly realised everything that she's been keeping inside,

"Lucy, you're very young, you have plenty of time to figure out who you are," Kakashi said soothingly and Lucy almost screamed in frustration but instead she sighed and just fell into Kakashi's chest,

"I just don't know who I am anymore," Lucy said quietly, Kakashi swallowed the lump of nerves in his throat at the situation he was in. No matter how many times it happened he would never be fully comfortable with comforting a little girl.

"What do you mean though? You don't seem to have changed much to me," Kakashi asked her,

"I realised it a few days ago at the academy, some of the girls cornered me and before I came here I never would have considered hurting any of them but that day I thought that if they tried to make the first hit then I would fight back. Knowing that they wouldn't stand a chance, I would never have thought like that before. Sasuke told me that I valued all life even if it killed me but the more I think about it the more I realise that isn't true anymore," Lucy whispered as tears came to her eyes, "if I felt like I had too I would have hurt them," she finished off quietly as she began to cry into Kakashi's chest.

Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose as he watched Lucy cry, _'this is exactly what I was worried about when she became a ninja. Dammit, why couldn't the Hokage just wait for a few more years?'_ Kakashi thought to himself before he started speaking softly to Lucy, "unfortunately that's the survival instinct that comes with being a ninja, it doesn't make you any less of a kind and gentle person Lucy. You're just not as opposed to solving issues using violence should you feel the need," he tried to be soothing and gentle when explaining but it did nothing to make Lucy feel better. Unbeknownst to Kakashi, Lucy had gone through multiple battles and a war but she still never felt like she would hurt little girls if they took a swing at her. Usually, she would just dodge them or quickly knock them out, she couldn't explain why it was so different at that time.

Kakashi started to internally panic once he saw that Lucy had started crying harder into his chest, he didn't know what to do. "Lucy, come on, ugh, do you want a strawberry smoothie? I could make you one, I've been practising," he tried but Lucy only clung to him tighter and continued to cry. Kakashi was stumped at what to do, usually, the promise of a strawberry smoothie worked to a 'T' but for some reason, Lucy was having a breakdown. Maybe it just wasn't about her changing since she started living a ninja lifestyle, she did just wake up from the hospital earlier this week and she's been there so many times. Perhaps all of the stress is finally catching up to her, "maybe you should get some rest, you've had a full on week," Kakashi said soothingly and Lucy stopped crying almost completely, she sniffed and looked up at him,

"I don't know what's wrong with me," she said and Kakashi grew even more confused,

"What do you mean? There's nothing wrong with you," he said putting emphasis when he said _with,_

"I just mean that I don't know why I'm being so emotional lately. I feel angry most of the time, mostly with you. I feel like crying at the smallest of things and I just don't know why," Lucy said frustrated and before Kakashi could ask why she was always angry at him specifically a golden glow came from beside her, letting her know that one of her spirits was coming out.

"Miss Lucy," crones out Crux as he hovered above them,

"Grandpa Crux, what are you doing here?" She asked the old cross,

"I'm here because I have the answer to you're a question,"

"You know why I'm being emotional?" She asked him excitedly and Kakashi sweatdropped at her change in attitude,

"Yes, to put it simply Miss Lucy, you are becoming a young woman," at those words both Kakashi and Lucy froze but for completely different reasons,

"W-what?" Lucy rhetorically asked, _'I actually have to go through puberty again?'_ She shouted in her mind, Lucy became gloomy once she remembered how poorly she felt and acted the first time.

 _'She's only eight, how can she be going through this so early?'_ Kakashi internally yelled, panicking once again at the thought of having to explain anything to Lucy, _'maybe I can ask Kurenai to talk to Lucy instead,'_ he continued,

"I think my job here is done," Crux said before he went back to the spirit world, leaving Kakashi and Lucy in shock.

 **Time Skip**

Another week had gone by and Lucy had finally gotten to know everyone in Naruto's and Sasuke's class and by no surprise, Lucy connected with Hinata the most. She also quickly figured out how Hinata felt about Naruto and kept trying to put them into situations together, Mira would have been proud. The dense idiot that Naruto is though never noticed how Hinata felt, he was too focused on that horrible Sakura girl. While Sakura had toned it down since the incident with Sasuke she still contributed to the bullying with the other girls in the academy.

"Alright Hinata I want you to try and focus, we are going to find out your chakra nature. If I'm right, this will help me figure out how your body works," Lucy said as she handed Hinata a piece of chakra paper,

"O-okay, Lucy-sensei," Hinata had taken to calling Lucy 'sensei' no matter how many times Lucy asked her to call her by name, in a way Hinata reminded Lucy of Aries. Hinata pushed some chakra through her fingertips into the chakra paper and it crinkled, Lucy started to excitedly explain what that meant,

"That's so cool, I also have lightning as one of my chakra natures," she said after her explanation, "this also means that my hunch was right,"

"Wha-what hunch?"

"About how your body works, the reason why your body doesn't rely on strength. It's because your body should be relying on speed and flexibility, so from now on I want you to stretch morning, night and before you train. This should speed up your progress," Lucy explained and Hinata soaked up the information, almost like she was committing it to memory, "this also means that we need to work on your cardio so I also want you to run every day, or at least run to and from the academy,"

"Y-yes, Lucy-sensei," she stuttered out,

"Don't worry you can still practice your clan's teachings, this is just extra stuff so I hope you're up for it. When you feel like you're ready you can apply anything I teach you into your taijutsu style," Lucy announced and then they both started working on the things that Hinata had to improve upon.

 **Time Skip**

After her training session with Hinata Lucy decided to go ask Kakashi for a favour,

"What type of favour?" Kakashi asked her while looking sceptical, you never knew what could happen when Lucy had an idea.

"I just need some help with my training," Lucy said dismissively,

"Oh, I can help with that," Kakashi replied, think that she just needed a training partner,

"Oh great, so now that you've agreed you can't back out," she said and jumped onto the couch that Kakashi was currently relaxing on while reading his usual book,

"Why would I back out?"

"No particular reason, I'm just working on something new and need a guinea pig," she said and avoided Kakashi's eye,

"What do you mean guinea pig?" He said tentatively,

"It's completely safe," Lucy persuaded,

"Lucy," Kakashi said sternly,

"I need to practice using my dojutsu, I think it could really help with my medical training and I need someone to use it on," Lucy explained reluctantly,

"Oh, why didn't you just say so," Kakashi stated confused, he didn't know why Lucy was being so weird about her training,

"I just thought you would be uncomfortable, I mean I can literally see the insides of your body but you're completely fine with it so that's great," Lucy said excitedly before getting off of the couch and running up to her room before Kakashi could say anything.

"What did I just agree to?" Kakashi groaned out in exhaustion before he went back to his book.

 **Time Skip**

"You want me to go on a mission?" Lucy asked the Hokage, confused, it had only been two weeks since the Hokage had said that Lucy was to help out at the academy until she solved her magic deficiency problem.

"Yes, I would like for you to retrieve a scroll from someone, an unlikely ally," the Hokage explains unsure as to whether he should involve Lucy in this dark secret of the village, "I have to stress the importance of keeping this secret,"

"I'm honoured to be trusted with this but I can't help but feel that you chose me for a specific reason," Lucy said politely,

"Yes, I have chosen you because you have no prior connection to this village, to be frank, you are the only one who can do this because you weren't born in the village,"

"So I'm a scapegoat?" Lucy asked him with closed eyes,

"I'm sorry my dear but I don't know who else to ask, I won't make you do the mission. As long as you listen to my explanation," he said in desperation, Lucy nodded her head and the Hokage began to explain what happened to the Uchiha clan and Itachi's backstory.

"So in order to protect Sasuke and the village, this Itachi person slaughtered his own clan to stop them from committing treason against the village and you allowed this?" Lucy screamed out in anger, "do you have any idea how stupid you sound right about now, that's practically genocide," Lucy said enraged and the Hokage closed his eyes in anguish,

"I do realise that yes. I have no excuse as to what I have put that boy and his clan through. He was only meant to be a messenger for information on the Uchiha clan at first, I was hoping his involvement in the village would bring his clan and the village closer together. It appears I was wrong though, the Uchiha were planning a Coup dètat and Danzo was planning something else entirely. Once Danzo had made the order for Itachi to slaughter the Uchiha save for Sasuke there were rumours about a group called the Akatsuki, they were a danger to the village so Itachi joined them once he defected. Until now there had never been anyone suitable that I trust enough to go and gather information from him about the Akatsuki," the Hokage said and Lucy was sitting in the chair in front of him in shock, she couldn't imagine having to do what Itachi did, not to mention doing all of that and then have the person you're doing it for hate you.

"I'll go," Lucy said firmly before turning and walking towards the door,

"Wait, wear this," Lucy turned around and saw the Hokage holding out an ANBU uniform, the mask though wasn't an animal it was Fairytail's guild mark over the left eye hole, in pink, "this will let Itachi know who you are and not know what you look like. It's not that I don't trust the boy but someone might follow him," Lucy nodded at the Hokage and grabbed the uniform before leaving the office, "I hope I didn't just put you in even more danger, my child," the Hokage whispered as he looked out of the window of his office.

 **Time Skip**

That night Lucy snuck out through the window in her newly made ANBU uniform and made her way towards the village gates. Handing the scroll with the Hokages permission to leave to the ninja at the gate and quickly making her way into the forest towards the rendezvous point. Lucy began to have doubts about her acceptance, _'I know why I'm the scapegoat buy what exactly am I getting myself into. This is Sasuke's lunatic brother who assassinated his clan and joined a group of rogues out to destroy the world and recreate it in their personal ideal of peace,'_ she thought to herself and started to move chakra into her nose and ears to keep her guard up.

 _'What will Sasuke do when he finds out what the village did to his clan, will he forgive me for this? For knowing?'_ Lucy's thoughts were running wild and she nearly didn't block an incoming kunai that was coming her way. Hearing the clang of her kunai blocking the other Lucy stopped on a tree and held her kunai up I front of her, she didn't look around or move at all. Just kept her kunai in front of her, trying to appear steady but in reality, her heart was beating a mile a minute.

"You must be Miss Fairy," Lucy heard an exhausted voice come from behind her and saw a boy that was about 17 years of age, his eyes had endless bags underneath them. Lucy said nothing at his claim but nodded her head in recognition, "I do not know why Lord Hokage has finally trusted someone with this but I suppose if he does trust you I will not question it," he said tiredly and reached into his black cloak that had red clouds upon it, all the whole Lucy still hadn't moved from her position, "this is for Lord Hokages eyes only," Itachi said while handing her a scroll.

Lucy took it quickly and silently asks Virgo to store it away for her, when the scroll disappeared Itachi looked at her in surprise. Lucy slowly put her kunai back into her boot and stood up straight, nodding her head towards Itachi and turning to leave but not before someone else jumped down in front of her.

"Well, well what do we have here? Another sacrifice?" A grey-haired guy with a red scythe said while licking his lips, "You've certainly found a young one Itachi," Lucy tensed when she felt Itachi move to stand in front of her with the estranged man,

"I was just passing by, don't waste time and let's go," he said but the grey-haired man didn't move,

"You go, I'm going to play with my new bitch," he said sadistically and Lucy felt herself become angry, summoning her halberd much to their surprise Lucy got into a defensive position before flipping backwards and landing a few feet away, "oo, a feisty sacrifice, it's been a while since I had one that could fight back," He said while licking his lips again and Lucy had to force herself not to shiver,

"Hidan, stop playing around and let's go," Itachi tried again, "I am not going to stand here while you mark random people with your scythe," he said and subtly looked towards Lucy and she gripped her halberd tighter in response,

"Then you go back, but I'm going to sacrifice this little bitch," he snarled out laughing before launching himself forward. Lucy forced lightening into her halberd before jumping up and bringing it down onto the ground, releasing it all at once. Itachi and Lucy jumped away from the ground that was now splitting and jumped into separate trees, still within hearing distance,

"I'll distract him while you go," Itachi whispered low enough so that only Lucy could hear,

"It wouldn't be believable if I got away without a scratch with the both of you here," Lucy whispered back for the first time that night and Itachi was surprised that she was, in fact, a girl. Lucy silently summoned one of her human-sized tigers to stand aside and wait until Lucy gave the signal to take her back to the village. She also changed into her Capricorn star dress, Capricorn's star dress helped her with hand to hand combat, while asking Capricorn to observe and memorise Hinata's movements that knowledge was placed into Capricorn' star dress.

Itachi was once again surprised at Lucy's abilities but shook it off once she jumped down from the tree and landed beside the rubble that was once the ground, "You little bitch, you've got some tricks up your sleeve haven't you?" Hidan laughed out in excitement as he looked at the damage that Lucy had made. Itachi landed beside Hidan, never taking his eyes off of the little girl who looked like she had been through her fair share of battles, "I'm going to enjoy this one," Hidan yelled out and made his way towards Lucy to attack her once again.

Lucy jumped over his scythe and attempted to kick him in the head but he moved to the side and she dodged his scythe once again, never allowing him the touch her with it because of Itachi's warning. Lucy started using the power of her Capricorn star dress and her knowledge of the human body in the attempt to hit him in vital places but he always seemed to evade them. Her eyes widened as his scythe came towards her face and she barely had time to move, he narrowly missed her face but hit her new mask and it shattered revealing her narrowed brown eyes and long blonde hair. Hidan's eyes widened at the sight of her face and while he was distracted Lucy sent a chakra infused fist towards his face.

Hidan's body went flying back into a couple of trees, breaking them as he went. Itachi was now staring at the familiar girl, he had seen her with Sasuke whenever he went to check in on him, "You little blonde bitch," Hidan screamed put in anger,

 _'Crux, Gemini, I'm going to need help here. Now that they've seen what I look like I need to end this quickly,'_ Lucy thought to her spirits, _'besides if I'm not back before Kakashi wakes up I'm going to be in trouble,'_ Lucy continued thinking,

 _'We'll look into it Miss Lucy,'_ she heard Crux say through their connection. Lucy continued to dodge Hidan, whom was swinging his scythe in a great effort to mark her but she never allowed it to get close after her mask came off.

 _'Despite the fact that he's crazy he seems to be quite smart. So a simple bash and dash won't do well in this situation. Besides it'll look weird if I defeat him but have Itachi let me go, I don't think I could defeat them both though,'_ Lucy thought to herself, _'I need a way to make it look like I've exhausted Itachi, then I could quickly take out scythe moron and leave,'_ at this thought Lucy looked towards Itachi subtly and summoned her whip before wrapping it around Hidan's scythe and tying it up to the tree,

"You little blonde," Hidan yelled out but didn't get the chance to continue to attack Lucy because she tangled him up in her whip as well and knotted him within the tree branches,

"That should take a minute or two for him to get out of," Lucy mumbled before turning towards Itachi who nodded his head in understanding and took on a defensive stance. Lucy took a deep breath and activated her dojutsu which allowed Lucy to see his internal organs and blood vessels, she looked into his surprised eyes and saw that they looked different to what others normally do. Shaking it off she leapt forward in her taijutsu stance that she had been learning from Hinata and they began their deadly dance.

 **Time Skip**

Both Itachi and Lucy had bruises all over them, both of their clothes had been ripped and Lucy's hair had been signed from one of Itachi's Fire jutsus and Itachi had cuts on him from one of Lucy's Wind jutsus. Itachi had one of his arms hanging limply at his side from Lucy pinching his nerves using the Hyuga taijutsu.

"I'm quite surprised at your skill level, you are certainly a formidable opponent," Itachi complimented her, breathing heavily. Lucy, who was also breathing heavily smirked slightly at him,

"I have to say I'm kind of scared of how you fight when aiming to kill," Lucy wheezed out, in between breaths. Itachi showed signs of a small smirk, "I have to finish this but it was nice meeting you," Lucy whispered to him before changing into her Aquarius star dress,

"I'm glad someone like you is watching over my brother," Itachi whispered back and Lucy made quick hand signs, she nodded her head towards him and slammed her hands on the ground and water started to flow around her. Slowly raising her hands up as the water level rose until they were above her head she made several more hand signs before shoving her arms put in front of her to direct the water in Itachi's and Hidan's direction. They both were shoved away from the force of the water and Lucy quickly grabbed her whip and stored it away before it could go anywhere. Before the water could clear up Lucy signalled her summoning Tiger to come to her and rode the beautiful human-sized tigers back towards the village.

 **Time Skip**

By the time Lucy and her summons Anita made it back to the village Lucy looked ready to drop, pulling her hood above her head to hide her face she made her way through the gates after showing the guards her permission slip to get back into the village.

Sending Anita back to where ever her tiger summons go, Lucy started to make her way to the Hokage tower.

"Come in," said the familiar old and tired voice of the Hokage, opening the door Lucy came face to face with a surprised look,

"What happened child?" The Hokage asked alarmed,

"I ran into some trouble, another one showed up and we had to stage a fight," Lucy explained while asking Virgo to give her the scroll, "this is what he gave me," she said handing the scroll to Lord Hokage,

"Thank you, dear, you should go and get yourself checked out at the hospital, you can come back tomorrow to give me more details about your mission," he said to her and Lucy nodded before moving to leave. However, instead of going to the hospital she just went home and cleaned herself up before going to bed.


	14. Chapter 14

It had been a couple of months since her first ANBU mission and since then her life has pretty much worked around a stable routine. She was still going to the academy every day to help Iruka and even learn about the history of the Hidden leaf village, she helped Naruto with his homework. Sparred with Sasuke, continued to train with Hinata on the weekends, however, she was still having trouble with her medical ninjutsu training. Lucy didn't know why but she just couldn't weave her chakra through other people's bodies, she knew where everything was and how it worked but her chakra just wasn't cooperating.

Not to mention that Lucy still hasn't made any progress in her magic deficiency problem, no matter how hard the Hokage and Ibiki tried, they didn't know how to help because they don't know how to detect other nano. It frustrated Lucy to no end and Kakashi was getting suspicious about what she's been working on. While Lucy had never lied to him she had used the excuse _'it's just something from my past,'_ or _'it involves my spirits,'_ too many times and Kakashi was getting annoyed with the constant avoidance of the questions.

Currently, Lucy was sitting in front of the Hokage, she had just finished reporting back to him from her latest ANBU mission. They were all related to Itachi in some way, so she hardly had to go on missions.

"Lucy, I've heard that you're having trouble with your medical ninjutsu training," the Hokage said after she finished giving her report,

"Ahh yeah, I'm not sure why though," Lucy said as she started to look embarrassed and rubbed the back of her neck,

"Well I know someone who's a medical ninjutsu master, unfortunately, I don't know where she is at the moment," Lord Hokage said and Lucy looked at him annoyed,

"And you're only telling me this now because?" Lucy asked sarcastically,

"Well, you seemed to be doing well on your own so I didn't think it to be necessary. Now though, you seem to be having trouble," Lord Hokage replied to her, "I have some of her information for you here, if you would like to you can try to find her," at this Lucy looked at the Hokage in shock,

"You mean, leave the village for awhile?" She asked him unsure,

"That is of course, only if you want to," he said and Lucy hesitated,

 _'How long would I be gone for? How would I even begin to look?'_ Lucy thought to herself in concern, _'but I would be learning medical ninjutsu from a master, with this I can finally get my hands on the Hyuga clan scrolls. I could heal people while on missions,'_ she reasoned with herself,

"If you're concerned with being gone for too long, you could always come back to report in. I will be sending you a special mission every now and then so make sure to take your uniform with you. Should you decide to go," the Hokage explains,

"Can I have a few days to think about this?" She asked him and the Hokage nodded his head,

"I would like your decision by the end of the week," with that Lucy got up and bowed before leaving. She walked through the village lost in thought, travelling could be a good thing for her. Gather information about this world and maybe find others to teach her somethings before her medical training. Lucy shivered suddenly and pulled her cloak around her tighter, it was mid to late December and the winter breeze was brisk.

Lucy walked through the door of Kakashi's place and headed towards the kitchen to make herself hot chocolate to warm herself up.

"Oh Lucy you're back," Kakashi said as he looked up from his disgusting book,

"Yeah, I just came back from the Hokage office,"

"What did you do this time?" Was Kakashi's blunt reply and she scowled at him,

"What makes you think I did something?" Her tone was sharp and cutting,

"Did you?"

"No, he was proposing an opportunity to me," she replied and Kakashi looked up from the book that he had turned his attention to,

"What type of opportunity?"

"One that could help me with my medical ninjutsu training,"

"That's great, what is it?" Kakashi asked lightly and Lucy paused,

"To train under a medical ninjutsu master," she said calmly,

"Isn't that great though, why aren't you more excited?"

"They're not in the village,"

"Then how are you supposed to train with them?" Came Kakashi's reply and Lucy turned her head to look at him, "Oh," Kakashi whispered in realisation, "Absolutely not," he said calmly before turning back to his book,

"Excuse me?" Lucy yelled out in shock,

"You are not leaving this village alone to travel with complete strangers,"

"You don't get to decide that Kakashi," Lucy yelled at him and continued before he could get a word in edgewise, "this is a great opportunity, training under a master, I may never get a chance like this again. If I'm going to go and find her then I need to leave before the Hokage loses contact with her again," she tried to reason with him,

"Lucy, you are eight years old. You aren't leaving this village alone," Kakashi yelled as he stood up,

"We both know that my age is of no importance, I can take care of myself. I've been doing it for years," Lucy yelled back, raising her voice to match his volume,

"You will do as I say, Lucy, this is not up for discussion," he said tensely and gave her his famous glare that would have scared anybody else,

"You are not my father, you don't get to make my decision's for me," she yelled back and turned to storm up to her room, completely missing the look on Kakashi's face. Lucy was sitting on her bed glaring at her bedspread when she suddenly heard the front door slam shut, the noise echoed throughout the house and shook the walls. Lucy flinched, she's seen Kakashi angry before but he's never been one for dramatics, she's always the one slamming doors and throwing things. Lucy looked back down at her bed sadly before turning into her side and trying to fall asleep.

 **With Kakashi**

Kakashi was currently sitting at a table in a bar nursing a drink.

"Oh Kakashi, it's not like you to be in a place like this," he heard from behind him and turned around, he saw Asuma, Gai and surprisingly Ibiki were behind him. Asuma continued, "What are you doing here? You get dumped or something?" He said chuckling but stopped when he didn't see Kakashi humouring him, "Don't tell me you actually got dumped, I didn't even know you were seeing anybody," he said startled and Gai started to dramatically cry, yelling something about Kakashi never telling him anything, while Ibiki just stood there

"I'm not seeing anyone," Kakashi said exasperated, "Just got into a fight with Lucy," he groaned out,

"Should have known, considering Lucy is the only female in your life," Asuma said laughing, "So what was it about this time? Did Pakkun rip something of hers up or did you get another book in the 'make out' series?" He continued with amusement,

"Neither, Lucy wants to leave the village," he said simply and both Asuma and Gai stared at him in shock but Ibiki didn't look surprised at all,

"What do you mean she wants to leave?" They shouted in unison and the people around them turned to look at them,

"She told me that the Hokage gave her permission to leave to train,"

"Oh, for a second I thought you meant permanently," Asuma sighed out in relief, "why did you guys fight though?"

"I said that she couldn't," was all Kakashi said, Asuma groaned and Gai looked at his rival with pity,

"Let me guess she yelled at you, telling you that you don't have a say and you got angry and yelled back," Asuma said,

"Kind of,"

"You know that she's right Kakashi, you may be her guardian but it's not exactly official. You haven't adopted her or anything, if the Hokage gives her permission she can do as she likes," Ibiki said, knowing that it would irritate Kakashi, "besides this is a great opportunity for her. Training under a master medical user," Ibiki said and Kakashi stiffened before he turned to face him,

"You knew?" Kakashi asked him and Ibiki nodded his head,

"I did, in fact, I suggested it," he said and Kakashi grew angry,

"Why would you do that?" He yelled at Ibiki and both Asuma and Gai looked at him in shock,

"Because she can take care of herself, besides she'll be with a healer, no place safer for someone like Lucy," Ibiki said a matter of factly,

"She's a little girl who has no place being out in the world alone,"

"She has already been in the world alone, she's gone through more than what either you or I have combined. Why can't you see that she's a strong shinobi of the leaf?" Ibiki asked sternly, finally getting annoyed by the way Kakashi treats Lucy like she's a toddler. Kakashi fell silent not really knowing how to respond to that,

"There's something else isn't there? I mean you guys have had fights like this before and you've never resorted to drinking," Asuma pointed out and Kakashi looked back towards his drink,

"It's nothing," he grumbled and took a large gulp of the drink,

"If it was really nothing you wouldn't be here," Gai said,

"It really is nothing, I don't even know why I'm so affected by it," Kakashi sighed as he went back to nursing his drink,

"She told you that you weren't her father didn't she?" Ibiki guessed since it was the only thing that really got him so worked up lately and Kakashi's silence was all he needed to know the answer, "if you hate it so much, why don't you change it?" He suggested and Kakashi looked up at him agitated,

"I can't just suddenly become her father,"

"Why not? Just go pick up the adoption papers from the Hokage office, I doubt he would be opposed to the idea," Ibiki said like it was no big deal,

"I can't just go and make that decision on my own, besides if I show up now with the adoption papers she'd think it would only be to keep her in the village,"

"So then wait until she comes back from her training," Asuma suggested,

"Like I said I can't just go and make that decision on my own, besides I don't want to force her to look at me as a father figure,"

"Then don't adopt her as your daughter, adopt her as your sister," Gai spoke up and all three men turned to look at him,

"I'd never thought I would say this but that's really smart, Gai," Asuma said laughing and Gai smiled a toothy grin and stuck up his thumb for a moment before pausing with a frown,

"Look I don't know, what do I know about kids?" Kakashi grumbled,

"This isn't about just any kid though, this is about Lucy and don't tell her I told you this but she would be more likely to listen to you if you adopted her. To her it would be similar to creating a contract with her spirits, remember how she went on about the promise that's made between them," Ibiki said and Asuma and Gai looked at each other confused,

"She does take promises very seriously, one time I promised to make her the best strawberry smoothie that's she's ever tasted and she made me practice until it was true," Kakashi said amused at the memory, "Look I should probably go," he said and placed money down next to his unfinished drink before leaving.

Once he made it home he went to check on Lucy and saw her sleeping. She was turned onto her side facing away from the door on top of her covers. Kakashi quietly walked around her bed so he could see her and became worried when he saw it scrunched up in pain. He saw her mouth move and learned to hear what she was saying,

"Natsu," he heard her mumbled and then let out a whimper,

 _'Why would she be dreaming about summer?'_ (Natsu: means summer in Japanese) Kakashi thought to himself as he continued to stare worriedly down at Lucy, "Lucy, wake up. It's just a dream," he said as he shook her awake,

"Natsu," Lucy gasped as she sat up and looked around, she had been dreaming about the dragon cry mission that Team Natsu had gone on before the war between Alveraz and Fiore took place. Lucy let out a deep breath as she realised where she was and looked at Kakashi in confusion, "what's going on?" She asked him quietly,

"Can we talk about this afternoon?" Kakashi asked her,

"Now?" Lucy questioned as she looked around her room to find it dark, Kakashi turned the lamp on her bedside table on and sat next to her, "this can't wait until morning?"

"I need to say this Lucy," Kakashi said and took a deep breath, "I know I don't have a say in your decisions and I know that I'm not your dad or anything," Lucy Looked down as he said this,

"When I said that I just meant," she started but Kakashi interrupted her before she could finish,

"I know what you meant and you're right. I'm not your father and I don't have a say in your life. You're just such a worry Lucy, I mean you tripped over the air this morning," Kakashi stated and Lucy looked up at him with a tick mark on her forehead,

"I hope you have a point,"

"I'm just saying that I'm worried about you, trouble just seems to follow you everywhere you go," Kakashi said in a defeated tone,

"I'm going to be fine, I have to check in with the Hokage every few months anyway and I've already decided that if I don't find this medical ninjutsu master in a few months after I leave then I'll come back for a few weeks before trying again. I wouldn't just leave for years," Lucy said, "I know what it's like to be left behind," she whispered and Nastu's brief letter to her before the guild disbanded came to her mind before she shook the thought away. "I'm going to be okay, I always have my spirits and tigers with me,"

Kakashi reluctantly nodded his head, "I still don't like it but okay, you'll check in with me as well when you visit the Hokage right?"

"Always, now how am I going to beak this to Naruto?" Lucy asked him sheepishly.

 **Time Skip**

"You're leaving?" Naruto shouted at her and everyone looked over at them. They were currently having lunch in the classroom, it was too cold to play outside today.

"Only for a little while, I'm going to be training in medical ninjutsu and my dojutsu," Lucy said and nervously rubbed behind her head, "Don't worry I won't be gone long and I'll send you letters all of the time,"

"When do you leave?" Naruto asked her quietly,

"The day after New Years, I wanted to spend the holidays with everyone before I left," Lucy said and Naruto nodded his head sadly,

"You're leaving?" Lucy heard a whisper from behind her and saw Sasuke standing behind them,

"Yeah, I'm going to find a medical ninjutsu master to train under for a while, don't know how long I'll be gone for exactly but I'll check in every few months," she explained to him but he still wore his blank expression,

"Hmm," at his response Lucy got a tick mark on her forehead and smacked him upside his head with her notebook,

"Use your words," she said sternly,

"Don't hit Sasuke like he's a fly," Lucy heard a shrill voice say and turned to see Sakura standing there with her fists raised,

"Anyway, I'll come and see you every now and again, I promise," Lucy said as she turned back to Sasuke and he nodded before going back to his seat. Lucy sweatdropped as she turned back around to face Naruto,

"How did you become friends with that guy again?" Naruto asked with a frown on his face, "I don't know how you can stand him, he's so full of himself," he continued,

"Yes he maybe kind of obnoxious but he's still my friend and I expect you to at least act polite while you're around him. In front of me at least so it looks like I'm not picking sides," Lucy said to him,

"Fine," he grumbled and finished scoffing his lunch that Lucy brought in for him.

 **Time Skip**

"You're l-leaving Lucy-sensei?" Hinata asked her straight after the academy got let out, she had a sad look on her face,

"Yes but don't worry I've put together this scroll for you for your training. Each stage will only appear if you've completed the one before it, the stages will mainly be how many exercises or stretches you have to do per day but some of it will be things like chakra control or taijutsu training. If you need any help I'll be coming back to the village every few months so make sure to write down any questions that you come up with," Lucy explained as she handed Hinata a scroll,

"Th-thank you Lucy-sensei, I-I'll work h-hard and make you p-proud," Hinata said with determination,

"You already have Hinata," she said back to her warmly and gave her a hug before walking towards Kakashi's place, leaving the determined yet shy girl watching her walk away.

 **Time Skip**

It was Christmas Eve and all of the Jonin's had gotten together for a drink,

"Kakashi, I didn't expect to see you here. You never show up to these things," yelled Anko as Kakashi walked through the door of the bar,

"Lucy made me come, the academy students are having a get together at the barbecue place down the road and Lucy was excited because they were doing Secret Santa. She said that she wouldn't be able to have fun if I was quote 'wallowing in self-pity,' unquote," Kakashi said sarcastically and rolled his one visible eye, the rest of the Jonins laughed,

"She has you wrapped around her pretty little finger doesn't she?" Asuma said from his seat beside Kurenai who was giggling,

"Ahaha yeah, that girl could make you do almost anything," Anko said and raised her sake glass, Kakashi only sighed and took a seat at the end of the table before turning his gaze to his book.

 **With Lucy**

Lucy was currently sitting in between Naruto and Sasuke, the latter of which she had to physically drag out to the barbecue restaurant,

"Okay, so who's going first?" Lucy asked excitedly and clapped her hands together, "remember this is only secret Santa if any of you have any other gifts to give you will have to do it after we've eaten," she said while turning to look of Sasuke's fangirls who turned away whistling innocently. Lucy sighed and turned her gaze back towards everyone,

"I'll go," Naruto shouted excitedly as he jumped up in the air, "I picked Hinata for my secret Santa," he said as he handed Hinata an envelope, said the girl was looking like a bright red tomato. As Naruto said all of this Shikamaru looked pointedly at Lucy who avoided his gaze, she may or may not have rigged Naruto's choice of names when they were picking from the hat a week ago.

Hinata opened it up to find a ramen coupon inside and Lucy facepalmed herself but Hinata blushed and thanked him for it. After that one after another gave their gifts to the person they picked out of the hat.

Hinata gave Shikamaru a glass shoji board and set. Shikamaru gave Shino a history book about bugs. Shino got Choji a discount at an all you can eat buffet. Choji gave Ino a bag of his favourite flavoured chips, which she yelled at him for. Ino gave Kiba a bouquet of Germaniums which meant stupidity. Kiba gave Sakura a hair comb that had a kunai switchblade in it. Sakura gave Lucy a charm in the shape of a cherry blossom. Lucy gave Sasuke a handmade kunai set made specifically for his hand size and Sasuke gave Naruto a voucher for the local supermarket albeit reluctantly.

Shikamaru also looked pointedly at Lucy when Sasuke gave Naruto his gift, for which she again looked away from him.

"Now we can eat," Lucy said excitedly as the waiter came and placed everyone's orders in front of them.

 **Time Skip**

On Christmas morning Lucy had woken up and made her way downstairs to make breakfast for herself and Kakashi but was surprised to see him already in the kitchen, "morning Lucy, Merry Christmas,"

"Merry Christmas, you're cooking breakfast?" Lucy asked him,

"Actually I think I'm burning breakfast," he said with uncertainty,

"You really should only cook what you know Kakashi. You know you suck at anything new," Lucy said as she came up beside him and tried to see if anything could be salvaged,

"Well excuse me," he said under his breath as he moved aside and let Lucy take over, "So how long until you leave?" He asked they hadn't talked about her training trip since the last time a couple of weeks ago,

"Straight after New Years," Lucy replied as she tipped whatever used to be in the frying pan into the bin, "I'll check in after three months of travelling, if I haven't found her by then I'll stay for a few weeks," she continued as she started making pancakes,

"That's good, do you have everything prepared?"

"Yes, besides Virgo would know if I was forgetting something," Lucy waved off Kakashi's concerns.

"Just let me know if you need anything," Kakashi said as he started reading the morning newspaper,

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Lucy said as she went back to cooking.

 **Later that day**

Lucy was running around the Village trying to find everyone that she had gotten gifts for, she didn't want to bring all of them yesterday when she met up with everyone from the academy. First, she went to Shikamaru's place and dropped off his present, it was a guide to astronomy since he looked really interested whenever she talked about the constellations with him and Choji.

Next, she went to Hinata's and dropped off a necklace that had a yin and yang symbol with the Kanji for 'kindness' engraved on the back. Then she went to Choji's to give him a book of recipes from earth land. After that,t, she went and gave Shino a spiders egg that she had found a couple of days ago and asked him to take care of it. Then she went to Kiba's and gave him a pair of ear muffs that looked like dogs ears as a joke, she also gave Akamaru a dog bone. After that,t, she went to Sasuke's place and he caught her sneaking in,

"What are you doing here Lucy?" He drawled out bored,

"I just came to give this to you, Merry Christmas," Lucy said and handed him a small package, confused he took it,

"Didn't you give me something yesterday?" He asked,

"That was for secret Santa silly, this is for Christmas," she said to him happily, "well open it then," she said to him impatiently

"Hmm," he said and Lucy got a tick mark on her forehead but let it go as he started to open his present, inside was a photo of them together after a day of training. They were both covered with bruises and dirt but Lucy was laughing while he was turned away from her pouting because he lost again. None of Lucy's bruises was even made by him they had all been her own doing from training earlier that day, "thank you," he mumbled out and Lucy giggled,

"Okay well I have to make a couple more stops so I'll see you later," she said as she jumped out of his open window,

"She could've just used the front door," Sasuke said to himself.

Lucy was whistling as she walked through the village, rubbing her hands together to keep them warm. Walking towards Naruto's place she climbed through the window and immediately started cleaning up the apartment. As she did whenever she was here, she was in the middle of throwing out old milk when Naruto came through the door,

"Ah, Lucy Merry Christmas," he yelled out loud and hugged her tight, it had become a regular occurrence to see her in his apartment unexpectedly. Not unlike how Natsu used to always sneak into Lucy's place back on earth land, however, Lucy didn't just help herself to Naruto's food, unlike the pyro-maniac she was so fond of.

"Merry Christmas Naruto," she said and they sat down on Naruto's newly made bed to exchange gifts, Lucy opened hers first.

On the inside of the small package was a very familiar kunai with the constellation of Aquarius engraved into the hilt, Lucy's eyes watered at the sight of the kunai that looked identical to the one that was in Axal's shop. "Naruto, where did you get this?" She asked him quietly,

"Why? Do you not like it? I can get you something else," he said melancholy,

"No, no it's wonderful, it's just that I think I've seen it before," she said to him,

"Hmm I don't know how you could've, a civilian traveller sold it to me when he was passing through the village. I told him about you and he gave this to me half price," he exclaimed excitedly, while Lucy had mixed emotions about this new revelation.

"What did he look like?"

"Let's see, he was quite large, had white, grey hair and stubble on his chin. He also looked like he was trying to take a crap whenever he talked," Naruto said giggling when he finished explaining. Lucy swallowed a lump that had formed in her throat,

"Did he have a tattoo on his shoulder at all, looked like opened jaws?" She asked him, remembering that Axal had been apart of a service similar to the ANBU during his ninja days,

"I don't know he had them covered, why are you asking so many questions? Do you know him?" Naruto asked her and Lucy just shook her head no, but didn't know if she was trying to convince Naruto or herself,

"No, I don't think so anyway," Lucy took a deep breath and shook her head before pulling out a small package and giving it to Naruto, inside was a key, similar to one of Lucy's summoning keys, "if you ever need me just call for me like I would with one of my spirits. I have one that connects to it, it will tell me how to locate you or vice versa. I won't tell you how I don't want to confuse you but it will. This way no matter how far apart we may be, we are always connected," Lucy explained to him, knowing that he was anxious about her leaving. Naruto looked like he was tearing up however and sniffed really loudly to stop himself from crying, making Lucy giggle at his attempts before she hugged him.

 **Later that day**

Lucy finally got back to Kakashi's place after spending hours with Naruto. Collapsing onto the couch on top of Kakashi's outstretched legs she groaned loudly,

"So, how was your day?" Kakashi sang out in a smug voice and he got a groan from Lucy in return, chuckling slightly he snapped his book shut and looked down at her. Lucy was face down on his legs, with her own hanging off of the couch and on the floor. "Come on sit up properly Lucy," Kakashi said and pulled up Lucy's legs onto the couch, she rolled over so that she was facing the ceiling with a worried look on her face, "what's with the look? It's Christmas," Kakashi asked her and Lucy sighed before she sat up,

"Naruto said something that concerned me today," she said thinking back to the kunai that he gave her, pulling it out she showed it to Kakashi,

"This is beautifully made, very similar to how you make weapons," Kakashi said as he inspected it,

"It was a gift from Naruto, he said that he told a civilian traveller about me and he sold it to him for half price," she whispered,

"What's so concerning about that?" Kakashi frowned at her,

"Because this kunai was made by my previous sensei, Axal," Lucy said and Kakashi's eyes widened,

"Are you sure? Maybe it's just a replica?" Kakashi asked her unsure but Lucy shook her head,

"I would know this kunai anywhere, he told me that it used to be a part of a set before his store got robbed and this was the last one left. I was always looking at it whenever I cleaned the store. The metal is the same, the weight the texture, it's all identical," Lucy said as she started to panic,

"Okay, it's okay, everything's going to be fine," Kakashi said as he pulled her into him after placing the kunai on his coffee table, "tomorrow why don't we take it to TI to have it checked for curses or seals to make sure that you can use it. Who knows maybe it was a parting gift or something," he said soothingly and while Lucy didn't really believe it she nodded her head anyway.

"Why do these things always happen to me?" Lucy whined out loud and Kakashi laughed.

 **New years eve**

It was finally New Year's Eve and Lucy had dragged Kakashi out to the festival, Lucy was wearing a Kimono that Virgo had designed and Lucy made Kakashi wear a Yukata but he still had his regular mask on and forehead protector. Lucy was eating a stick of dango and was dragging Kakashi around by his hand to all of the stalls.

"Let's try this, no wait that one first, ooh later can we do this," Lucy rambled on as they walked past every stall and Kakashi sighed out heavily, knowing that he was going to be exhausted the next day. "Ooh Kakashi I want to try this one," Lucy pulled Kakashi up to one of those mallet strength tests and gave the guy running the game the required amount of yen. Lucy smiled as she lifted the mallet up above her head ready to force it down onto the target but before she could she underestimated the weight of the mallet and fell over backwards. Lying on the ground dazed, "ouch," she whispered to herself,

"What just happened?" Kakashi asked her as he grabbed the mallet that Lucy was still holding onto and lifted both it and her into the air, "Lucy I've seen you create craters in the ground," Kakashi said sceptically,

"Yea with chakra or Taurus's abilities, I forgot that I'm not that strong on my own," she said sheepishly as she let go of the mallet and Kakashi sweatdropped at her,

"Alright I'll do it," he said and lifted the mallet up with both of his hands and brought it down onto the target with a lot of speed. The puck shot up from the target and made its way up, however it didn't stop and the belled ended up slitting in half, "oops," Kakashi laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head, the guy manning the game stared in amazement at the damage before glaring at Kakashi mumbling something about 'damned ninja,' Lucy was holding a hand up to her mouth trying to stop herself from giggling.

"Here," the man that ran the game growled out before he pushed a stuffed toy into Kakashi's arms forcefully before walking off to write a complaint to the Hokage. Lucy was still laughing at Kakashi as he handed her the toy, it turned out to be a small red dragon and it made her want to cry. Shaking herself out of her thoughts she smiled up at Kakashi in amusement,

"Thanks, but maybe you shouldn't play any more of those types of games," she said giggling and Kakashi looked away slightly embarrassed, "come on, let's go get something to eat," she said and grabbed Kakashi's hand before dragging him to every stall that had a strawberry flavoured option.

After a few more hours Kakashi finally had enough of walking around, "Lucy, can't we just go home already?" He groaned out as Lucy was just about to drag him to another game, she looked at the ground sadly,

"I suppose this isn't very fun for you," she said and fiddled with one of the many toys that she had gotten as prizes from games, some Kakashi had won and others she did, "Sorry, come on let's go home," she said and started walking in the direction of Kakashi's house. Kakashi frowned as he watched Lucy walk home in front of him, it was weird considering the entire night she rarely let go of his hand and now she was acting like she didn't even know him.

Once they got home Lucy went into the kitchen to make herself a hot chocolate and then went into the lounge room to read a scroll on human anatomy, meanwhile, Kakashi was wondering what he did to get the silent treatment.

"Lucy, are you okay?" He asked her hesitantly,

"I'm okay, why do you ask?" She replied shortly,

"Well, you haven't said a word to me since we left the festival, nor have you looked me in the eye. I was just wondering if I did something?" He said unsure,

"You haven't done anything wrong Kakashi," Lucy answered honestly,

"Well I must have done something because you're upset with me," he said in amusement as he sat down beside her on the couch. Lucy sighed and closed her eyes,

"No you haven't, I'm just being silly," she took a deep breath and opened her eyes to continue reading the scroll,

"If you're sure but you can tell me anything, okay," he said to her and placed a hand on her head, she nodded her head yes.

"To get my mind off of things, can I tell you a story Kakashi?" Lucy asked him as she looked up,

"I guess so," he said confused, Lucy smiled at him and began,

"In a land far, far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore," Lucy started with a smile and continued to tell Kakashi about Earth Land the same way she told Naruto. While Kakashi sat there listening intently with a look of confusion constantly in his one visible eye.

 **Time Skip**

It was the day after New Years and Lucy was at the village gates, she was wearing a black cloak with a hood, combat boots with kunai knives slipped into them, black durable leggings, a ninja pouch on her left thigh and her key pouch on her right hip that now had her seals inside. Underneath the cloak attached to the middle of her back was her fixed ANBU mask so that she could complete missions the Hokage would send her throughout her trip. Lucy wore black fingerless gloves that went up to her elbows that had extra shuriken stored inside, her forehead protector was still wrapped around her right wrist but her guild mark was well hidden. Her left shoulder was wrapped in a bandage to hide her new ANBU tattoo, she was wearing a dark blue, sleeveless, high collar, shirt with a mesh shirt underneath for extra padding. Lucy had a small travel backpack on her back with the bare essentials, because Virgo had stored away all of her clothes, food and camping supplies.

Naruto was currently clinging to her refusing to let go while the Jonins that Lucy had gotten to know plus Sasuke were all sweatdropping at the sight, besides from Gai who was being physically held back from doing the same thing by Kakashi.

"Get off of her you knucklehead," Sasuke said annoyed after about ten minutes of him blubbering non-stop, shoving Naruto to the ground and out of his way Sasuke turned to face Lucy, "here," he said as he shoved a scroll into her hands while looking away,

"Sasuke you didn't have to get me anything you know," Lucy said with gratitude,

"It's just a basic fire jutsu scroll, you said that you didn't know how to perform and so I thought it could be useful," he grumbled out while still looking away, while the Jonins were now all looking at them with interest,

"Aww thank,s, Sasuke but are you sure I can take this one? It has your clans crest on it," Lucy asked him and the Jonins all looked surprised at this information,

"It's fine, I already know it anyway," he waved off her concerns, and Lucy shrugged before asking Virgo to store it for her. Hugging Sasuke quickly Lucy then moved onto the Jonins to say a quick goodbye, turning towards Kakashi, she didn't know what to say.

"I-I'll see you in three months," she finally managed to get out and Kakashi looked slightly disappointed before nodded his head,

"Yeah, three months," he sighed out and everyone, including Naruto, facepalmed at their goodbye, Lucy started to walk away before she ran back and gave Kakashi a hug before turning and walking away for real. Kakashi started walking back to his place with a small smile on his face.

Watching Lucy walk away Asuma turned towards the youngest Uchiha, "do you really know what it means to give a family scroll to someone to keep?" He asked him and Sasuke nodded his head,

"Of course I do I'm not stupid like that knucklehead," he said annoyed, "from this point onwards, whether Lucy knows it or not, she is an honorary Uchiha," he said out loud.

Lucy had been travelling from town to town for almost two months now and during that time she had only been able to do one fire style ninjutsu. It was proving harder than she thought to learn, although it made sense considering water style came so easily to her. Other than training in the fire style ninjutsu Lucy had been working in her chakra reserves and dojutsu training, although the latter was harder to make progress in because she didn't have the Hyuga scrolls as of yet. However, she did know her limits, Lucy could now keep her dojutsu activated for an hour while fighting, it was more difficult to keep them active while she was using medical ninjutsu though, having to constantly keep a steady pace in both her eyes and her hands was taxing and felt unnatural.

Looking for this Lady Tsunade was proving to be more difficult then what she thought, it didn't matter how many bars or casinos she went to, she only ever caught a whisper about this Legendary Sucker that always passed through losing their money. During this time the Hokage hadn't sent her any missions though he did send her a letter last month, giving her a brief update on how Naruto and everyone else was doing. However, today when she got a letter from Lord Third it was different, the eagle that gave her the letter wouldn't leave and the message was strange, it read,

 _My Dear Granddaughter,_

 _I apologise for this sudden request but I would like to see you, you never come to visit me anymore. I do not know how far away you may be nor do I know how long it will take to for you to receive this letter but I would like you to send me a letter back using the eagle. Once the eagle has returned to me with your response I expect to see you within two weeks, my dear._

 _I miss you my little Fairy._

 _Love Grandpa._

 _'Well that's subtle,'_ Lucy thought to herself sarcastically as she started to write out her response,

 _Dear Grandpa,_

 _It has been a while, hasn't it? I suppose I could come and visit you for a short while, by the way how are your riddles going? I seem to remember that you were quite bad at them. I will be arriving at the earliest possible convenience, please have my favourite drink ready for me._

 _With love your Grandaughter._

Lucy smirked as she rolled up the paper and gave it to the eagle. Watching it fly away Lucy then proceeded to pull out her map of the five nations and called out Pyxis, once the cute little compass appeared at her side he immediately faced north and Lucy giggle at him,

"Hey Pyxis, I was wondering if you could mark where I am on this map?" She asked him and Pyxis looked at the map before spinning his arrow around rapidly before placing his arrow inside of a forest just past the land of lightning, "thanks Pyxis you can go back now," after the little compass made his exit Lucy started to think, "How am I going to get back to the village in two or so weeks?" She mumbled out whole placing a hand on her chin, she then bit her thumb before proceeding to make a series of hand signs before slamming her hand onto the ground, "summoning Jutsu," she yelled out and all but one of her tigers made an appearance.

"Hey everyone," Lucy waved out before she was pushed to the ground by the brand new cubs and they started licking her face, "Okay, okay," Lucy squealed out while laughing, once she got them off of her she held the smallest one in her arms as she stood up, "So who out of everyone is the fastest?" Lucy asked as she looked around at everyone and suddenly one of the cubs started jumping up and down signalling that he was the fastest, Lucy chuckled before patting his head, "I'm sorry cub, I mean one that can carry me," she said soothingly and the cub looked down dejected, one of the larger cubs came forward and introduced himself,

"I am the fastest, My designation is unknown, I am in human terms in my mid-teen years," he said in a deep, slightly scratchy voice. Lucy looked saddened that he didn't have a name,

"Umm who else here doesn't have a name?" Lucy asked concerned and almost all of the tigers except for the cubs raised their tails in the air. "Okay we'll have to sort that out once I get back to the village, for now you can decide for yourselves what you would like to be called," Lucy announced and all of her summonses went back to wherever they resided except for the young tiger that spoke before, "how long do you think it'll take to get to the Hidden Leaf village?"

"I can get there in between 12-20 days depending on break times and if you want to travel at night," he answered her,

"How long can you go until you're exhausted and how long does it take you to recover?"

"I can run for 8 hours straight and I would need about 2 hours to recover completely, I can run for 4 hours at double to speed with chakra but it would take 4 hours to recover completely," he explained and Lucy smiled at him,

"That's perfect, we could travel during the day then take a 2-hour break to recover and eat before heading off again at full speed before we stop for the night," Lucy said as her tiger bent down in order for her to climb up and then they were off.

Over the next two or so weeks they began a routine, in the morning they would travel non-stop and then stop for a break, Lucy would call Virgo out for food and Lucy would guard her tiger who still hadn't chosen a name for himself while he rested. Then he would run with chakra for 4 more hours before dropping down in exhaustion, while he slept Lucy kept watch four hours later they would begin walking until the sun rose and then Lucy would get to sleep on her tiger as he ran for eight hours. On this routine, it took them about 16-ish days to get to the village give or take a couple of hours. Before they reached the village gates Lucy put on her ANBU uniform as the letter mentioned her alias, Lucy wasn't too sure that this is what it meant but you can never be too careful. Telling her tiger to go back and pick a name for himself before she called him out again before heading off to the Hokage tower. The guards at the gate only needing to look at her tattoo to let her in.

Once she made it to the tower she jumped through the window and kneeled down, "Ahh Miss Fairy, it's nice to know that you made it here on time," Lord Third said to her gently and she lifted her head to see both him and the elders in the room. Lucy internally grumbled not wanting to deal with the elders at this point in time. "Not to worry my dear, it's nothing too important but I would like to set up a private meeting with you and Ibiki tomorrow if you don't mind, after that you may stay for as long as you like," he said and Lucy nodded her head before she lept out if the open window.

Walking around the town still in her ANBU uniform, "I wonder who I should see first," she whispered to herself, "Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata should be at the academy right about now so I could go pick them up and we could all go out for ramen, but who do I see in the meantime?" Lucy wondered out loud and she decided to look for people around town first before she dropped into Kakashi's unannounced, "I could use a smoothie," she whispered to herself as she walked towards the dango shop, they also did sweet drinks there.

Walking into the little Cafe like store she was now wearing her usual attire, having asked Virgo to silently give her an outfit to change into. Lucy was now wearing her usual combat boots but now she wore a white short skirt that reached her mid thighs and dark blue over the knee socks that she could hide her kunai in, a belt that held her ninja pouch, on her right arm she wore a dark blue sleeve that hid her guild mark and her forehead protector tied it in place on her upper arm. Her shirt was sleeveless and a high collar button down also in dark blue. Her long blonde hair was up in two ponytails that reached to her lower back. Sitting down on a stool she ordered herself a strawberry smoothie and waited patiently, "Lucy," she heard a familiar voice squeal out and was suddenly wrapped up in sleeveless arms,

"Anko, it's nice to see you again," Lucy chocked out as she was being hugged to death,

"How long have you been in the village? How long are you going to stay? Have you seen anyone else yet?" Anko questioned her as she let go of the young girl,

"I just got back today, I might stay for a week or two before I go off again and I haven't seen anyone else yet," Lucy answered all Anko's questions while smiling,

"Oh, so you haven't seen Kakashi yet?" Anko asked her and Lucy looked at her confused,

"No, I didn't want to drop by unannounced, what if he was busy?" Lucy questioned,

"It's just out of everyone here I thought you would go to see him first," Anko said as she took a seat beside her,

"Well like I said I didn't want to just drop in," Lucy said and frowned slightly, "why would you think that I would go and see Kakashi first?" Lucy questioned, after all, Kakashi wasn't the only person that Lucy spoke with on a regular basis,

"I just thought that you two were attached at the hip that's all,"

"We are not, I do plenty of things without him," Lucy said,

"Oh I know you do things without him but he doesn't really do anything without you," Anko said and Lucy looked at her in concern,

"That's not really true is it, I mean Kakashi does have friends right?" Lucy asked,

"Well, he does but unless someone can force him to leave his house for anything other than a mission we don't really see him. The only ones who are willing to try so hard are you and Gai, well all you really have to do is ask, he can't really refuse you," Anko said chuckling and Lucy frowned as she started to sip at the smoothie that was placed down in front of her. Anko saw Lucy's look at tried to make her feel better, "Ah, you know Kakashi, I'm sure he's really fine with it. After all its not like we don't invite him to things he just chooses not to come," she said but it didn't really help,

"How many times have you seen him since I left?" Lucy questioned,

"Once about two weeks after you left, I think Gai challenged him to something," Anko said in thought and Lucy grew even more concerned,

'Only once in over two months,' Lucy thought to herself, "do you know where he is?" She asked,

"If he's not at his place when he's at the memorial stone or on a mission," Anko said and Lucy placed her money on the counter before leaving the small Cafe. Lucy made her way to the memorial stone first, on her way she waved to several people that greeted her excitedly.

Walking towards the memorial stone Lucy saw Kakashi with his back turned towards her, "I hope you've eaten today," she said when she was a few feet away from him,

"I'll eat later Lucy," Kakashi said but then tensed up and turned around, Lucy smiled at him with her eyes closed,

"Hey, how have you been?" She asked him,

"Lucy," Kakashi whispered and Lucy opened her eyes with a pout on her face,

"What, no hug?" She asked him as she puffed up her cheeks, "and here I came to find you after Anko told me you might be here," turning her face away from him while Kakashi looked at her with amused eyes,

"Just come here Lucy," Kakashi said laughing and she turned back to look at him with a smile before running towards him for a hug,

"How have you been?" She asked him, her voice muffled by his Jonin vest,

"I've been fine, how's training going? Have you found Lady Tsunade yet?" He asked her and she pulled away pouting again,

"No, no matter how many bars or casinos I go to no one has ever heard of her. People just keep telling me about this Legendary Sucker that passes through," she grumbled out and rolled her eyes while Kakashi sweatdropped,

"Lucy, that is Lady Tsunade," he said to her and Lucy froze,

"What? You mean that I've been one town behind her this entire time?" She yelled,

"I guess so," he said to her while wincing at her volume level. Lucy felt like she was about to pull her hair put,

"This sucks, I've been walking around for over two months not making any progress with my medical ninjutsu and only being able to create one fire style ninjutsu and if I had just picked up the pace I could have been actually learning something?" She screeched out, her face turning red,

"Lucy, tone it down will you?" Kakashi asked her while he put his finger in his ear,

"Sorry, this is just done frustrating, maybe I should leave straight after my talk with Lord Hokage tomorrow," Lucy thought out loud as she placed a hand on her chin,

"There's no hurry, you know where she is now. Look it's Friday, so why don't you at least stay for the weekend," Kakashi told her, "Don't you want to sleep in an actual bed for once?"

"Oh please, Aries wool is way more comfortable than any bed but I guess I could use a hot shower, I only get one of those a week," she said, "the rest of the time is using a river while Virgo and a couple of my tigers stand guard," Lucy finished and took Kakashi's hand and started pulling him back into town, "So have I missed anything?" She asked and on their way back to Kakashi's place they talked about the last two months.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy was skipping towards Iruka's classroom with a smile on her face, excited to see Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke, not that she actually had much to tell them. Knocking on the classroom door Iruka opened it to see Lucy smiling up at him,

"Ah Lucy, come in," he said happily and moved aside to allow her in the classroom,

"Lucy," she heard Naruto yell out and she saw him jump out of his seat, he was flying towards her when she leaned to the side to avoid his impact,

"So you're back," Sasuke said as he walked up to her looking bored,

"Just for the weekend," Lucy said and she thought she saw the disappointment in his eyes before it was replaced by boredom yet again so she shook it off. Lucy walked towards Sasuke and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him for a few seconds before letting go, "It's nice to see you again Sasuke," she smiled at him,

"Hmm," he responded to her and Lucy hit him upside the head still smiling at him,

"Use words Sasuke,"

"Ouch," she heard him whisper as she turned back to Naruto who was now pouting angrily from his place on the floor with a big bump on his head,

"Hello Naruto, how are you?" She asked him and he turned from her whole poking her his nose in the air, to be honest, it just made him look more childish, "Naruto?" Lucy prodded again and he turned from her even more, "well I guess I'll just ask Sasuke to go get ramen with me after the academy," she said slyly and turned around to cling to Sasuke's arm, all of his fangirls were glaring daggers at her a while Sasuke blushed slightly before going back to his bored expression.

Naruto immediately turned around and clung to Lucy's legs, "oh hello Lucy I didn't see you there," he said, "now let's go get ramen," he continued and Sasuke sweatdropped,

 _'What an idiot,'_ he thought to himself,

"Wait until after class besides I want to invite Hinata as well," Lucy said and broke Sasuke out of his thoughts,

"You're friends with Hinata?" Naruto asked her confused,

"Yea, in fact, we train together on the weekends," Lucy said honestly,

"That's so cool, so Hinata is like really strong?" Naruto asked Lucy excitedly,

"Yeah you bet, Hinata may not be good at confrontation but she's an excellent fighter," Lucy said, meanwhile at the back if the classroom Hinata was blushing bright red and hiding behind her hands.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy was sitting in a soundproof room with Ibiki and Lord Hokage, "So what do we need to discuss?" Lucy asked them cautiously,

"It's about this Earth land you come from, I was wondering if there was anything there that we might be able to replicate to help with your magic deficiency problem?" He asked her and Lucy looked down,

"Well there are potions and elixirs that are used to replenish magic energy, there are also magic replenishment mages who use enchantments or spells to restore magic power. Medical magic can also be a good substitute, I know a terrific young healer who specialises I healing magic and she can restore someone's stamina, although she cannot perform self-restoration. Crux and I have looked into all of these possibilities but the problem remains the same, there isn't enough ethernano being produced in this atmosphere, unless I can create a synthetic version, able to turn chakra into ethernano or become able to store ethernano away then I'm afraid that solving this problem just isn't possible," Lucy said slightly dejected,

"I see, one of the reasons I sent you to look for Lady Tsunade is because she has a seal placed on herself that stores away chakra, now I know you have something similar underneath your collarbone but I believe that yours is unfinished and unrefined. If you studied under Lady Tsunade maybe you could adjust her seal and be able to use it for ethernano," Lord Third explained and Lucy placed a hand on her chin in thought,

"It could work but I would need to be in a place that had a higher density of ethernano, I guess I can look for that while I'm travelling and in the meantime try to find a way to preserve the magic I have," Lucy said to herself,

"Also have you found a way to contact your friends there dear?" The Hokage asked her and she looked down in disappointment,

"No I haven't, if I just had the key that brought me here I might've been able to make a connection by now but I'm pretty sure it got lost back on earth land," Lucy sighed out,

"Well Ibiki and I have an idea for that, there is this ancient sealing technique that can connect someone to another person or even an inanimate object, however, it requires that sentimental value is placed on the person or thing. This technique was deemed forbidden because had started to be used to bind people as slaves to another but before it was used like that it had been to connect people using a mind link or a way of communicating through objects, we have been trying to find more information on it for you but it has become illegal to even have in libraries anymore," the Hokage explained and Lucy began to look excited about the possibility of talking to her friends at FairyTail again.

"That's brilliant, you know there's a couple type of magic very similar to sealing techniques, the ones I know most about were solid script and letter magic. The solid script could turn almost any word into a solid form such as fire or earth, or it could re-write ancient runes or letter magic. Letter magic could set up barriers or traps, once you step into a trap you have to follow the rules of the runes to get out of it. Both are very effective for support of defensive techniques, they rely on the user's mind and creativity," Lucy explained, "of course that's not all they're capable of but that's the idea behind it, I spent a lot of time with these magic users, I learnt a couple of things from them, I'm sure I can modify it to what I need," she finished and asked if they had anything else to discuss to which the Hokage responded with a no and Ibiki walked her out if the soundproof room.

"So how has training been Kid?" Ibiki asked as they walked out of the Hokage tower,

"Terrible," she groaned out, "I've hardly made any progress and I just found out that my future teacher has only been one town ahead of me this entire time," she whined out, still frustrated. Ibiki chuckled slightly before patting her head,

"Don't worry when you do find her and you start training with her I'd bet you wished you stayed one town behind," he said and Lucy sweatdropped,

"Gee thanks," Lucy said before laughing and walking back to Kakashi's place.

 **Time Skip**

"Do you really have to leave so soon?" Kakashi said as he saw Lucy pack,

"Yes, I wasted two whole months being one step behind, I've already wasted enough time catching up with everyone," Lucy said with determination,

"I get that this is important to you but ever since you came back from the Hokage you've been more restless than usual to leave," Kakashi said hesitantly, "did something happen? Does it have to do with that kunai knife that Naruto gave you for Christmas? Because I said that it was completely safe,"

"No, it's just Lady Tsunade has a special technique that would help me with some research that I'm doing, I just want to start that's all," Lucy sighed,

"What research?" He asked her

"Just involving my spirits," she replied back and waved off his curiosity, Kakashi was frustrated though,

"Yeah I've heard that before," he said before leaving her room, Lucy looked at his retreating back and sighed. She didn't want to tell him about her past, it's not just a matter of presenting proof anymore. In the time that Lucy has gotten to know Kakashi, she's learnt that he's afraid to make connections with people because of the loss he's experienced previously. If she told him that she was going to leave one day, he would probably ignore her existence to make it easier on himself. Lucy didn't want to lose him like that, at least not yet. She knew that it was selfish but she was slowly breaking inside, with each passing day with no progress of making it back to fairytail, she didn't want to lose someone that had become a constant presence in her life. Someone who would listen while she cried or put bandages on her wounds, no offence to Ibiki, Naruto or Sasuke but they don't exactly know how to comfort someone without making it worse and while Kakashi may not be very good at it he at least knows when to stop talking.

Shaking herself from her thoughts Lucy finished packing her bag for when she leaves tomorrow morning. Solving her magic power problem is at the top of her list of things to do, next thing would be to make a connection with Fairytail.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy was at the gates to leave for the second time, a new mission from the Hokage in her ninja pouch and everyone was saying goodbye to her once again, well, almost everyone.

"Where's Kakashi? I thought out of everyone he'd be here," Asuma asked and Kurenai glared at him for his lack of sensitivity, Lucy looked down slightly before smiling up at everyone,

"Who knows, I mean this is Kakashi he's usually late isn't he?" She said brightly even though she felt like crying. Gai shook his head and moved to give Lucy a hug,

"I'm sure that he is just late," he whispered to her but Lucy shook her head,

"Not this time," she whispered back to him and stepped back as he let go, she was still smiling brightly, however, "well I have to go if I want to catch up to Lady Tsunade," she said and bit her thumb to summon one of her tigers,

"M'Lady," he said in his familiar deep voice,

"Just Lucy is fine, have you found a name for yourself yet?" She asked him and he thought for a moment,

"I have," he said and she got excited,

"Well, what is it?" She asked him,

"The Slasher," he said plainly and Lucy sweatdropped while everyone else laughed,

"What about just Slash?" She asked him reluctantly and he nodded his head,

"Very well, shall we go?" He asked her and she nodded,

"We're not in such a rush this time do feel free to take a break whenever you want," she said as she got onto his back and he started running in the direction of the land of lightning. As soon as Lucy was out of sight Gai turned around and started walking away,

"Hold on Gai, I thought we were all going to grab a drink before leaving for our missions," Asuma called out to him and Gai turned around angrily to face him,

"I have to say something to Kakashi first," he said seriously before he started walking again,

"Should one of us stop him? He seemed really angry," Kurenai said her tone full of worry,

"No but I do think one of us should follow him in case it gets out of hand," Anko spoke up, "to be honest I would also like a word with him but Gai would get through to Kakashi more than the rest of us," she continues and everyone nodded their heads,

"I'll go," Yamato said and silently followed Gai to Kakashi's house,

"Come on, let's go wait for them at the bar," Asuma sighed out and they all started walking in the direction of the town.

Gai arrived at Kakashi's place and didn't even bother to knock before pushing his way through the front door, "Kakashi," he yelled out,

"What is it now Gai?" He heard Kakashi's voice from the living room, walking inside he saw Kakashi lazily laying on the couch reading like he usually would and this made Gai angry,

"Lucy just left," he said to him and was hoping for some kind of reaction but all Kakashi did be turn a page in his book,

"What does that have to do with me?" Kakashi asked and Gai looked surprised,

"Are you saying it doesn't have anything to do with you?"

"Why would it?" After that it was silent for a few minutes, Gai was trying to wrap his brain around whatever was happening,

"What the hell happened between you two?" He yelled out and startled Kakashi, "You two have been attached at the hip since the moment she moved in and you say that her leaving has nothing to do with you?" Kakashi slammed his book closed and moved to get off of the couch,

"It's none of your business Gai,"

"It is my business, especially when Lucy looked like she was about to burst into tears just before," at this Kakashi had nothing to say he just looked down at the ground, "What happened?" He asked and Kakashi took a deep breath before deciding to tell him about what happened that morning.

 _Flashback_

 _"Kakashi stop, I'm just not ready to tell you. I will one day but not today, please just drop it for now," Lucy tried to tell him calmly,_

 _"I won't drop it, why can't I know? Ibiki knows," Kakashi said sternly and Lucy sighed out, tired of this argument,_

 _"I told you he guessed and I filled in the blanks, more or less," she grumbled the last part under her, "I'm just not ready to tell yet, " She continued, "this isn't exactly something that is easily explained, nor is it something someone can process easily either, I don't want to drop a bomb on you just before I leave," Lucy explained to him, although that wasn't the only reason she wasn't telling him it does play a part,_

 _"That still doesn't explain why you haven't told me before or how Ibiki guessed in the first place," Kakashi growled out, he was getting sick and tired of the same excuses. Why is it so hard for her to tell him, she's told him about her childhood and about her time with Orochimaru. How could this part of her past be worse than that?_

 _"Please Kakashi, I promise you I will tell you when I'm ready but not today please I want to leave on good terms," Lucy pleaded but Kakashi had, had enough of the same thing,_

 _"How can I trust you if you don't trust me?" Kakashi asked her and Lucy's eyes widened before they narrowed in anger,_

 _"This isn't about trust, this is about you being nosy. I don't force you to tell me things about you're past and I know that there's still a lot I don't know so why is it so important for you to know mine? Why is it so different for me?" She yelled out,_

 _"Because I'm not an outsider," he yelled out to her and got in her face, Lucy's eyes widened in shock at his statement but Kakashi either didn't notice or didn't care as he stood up and out of her face before walking away._

 _Lucy turned her face to the floor and her bangs covered her eyes, "I didn't think that mattered to you," she said tonelessly before walking towards the door and gently closing it behind her, silently asking Virgo to pack up all of her stuff from the room that she had been using at Kakashi's place and to store it away._

 _Flashback end_

Gai suddenly punched Kakashi in the face, "I can't believe you," he yelled as Kakashi landed on the floor,

"What the hell was that for?" Kakashi yelled out looking confused and rubbing his left cheek, he looked up to see Gai staring at him in anger,

"Lucy would never push you to tell her something you weren't ready to tell, she even refuses to hear it from others and to say that she is an outsider," Gai yelled at him and Kakashi just sat there, looking at Gai in slight surprise, "she proudly wears Konoha's forehead protector, showing everyone that she is a kunoichi of the leaf. It doesn't matter that she wasn't born here and you know that," he continued to yell and at this Kakashi looked down, "but we both know that what really bothers you is that Ibiki has a connection with her that you don't, your jealousy has gotten out of control," at this Kakashi looked up in shock once again,

"Jealous, of what? Ibiki?"

"Yes, Ibiki knows something about Lucy that you don't and it angers you. I mean why wouldn't it, you only spend every free second you have with Lucy, you went against orders for her and you've comforted her when she's cried or been scared, why would Ibiki know something about her that you don't?" Gai explained to Kakashi, "it hurt you, to see that she trusted someone that wasn't you with an intimate part of her past so you lashed out and hurt her back," Gai continued as if he was speaking to a child, "this is the same as leaving a comrade behind," he growled out and walked away from the shocked Kakashi, who looked down after a few minutes feeling foolish.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy and Slash had been travelling for about a month now and we're slowly catching up to Lady Tsunade during this time they had been combining some jutsus for some emergency attacking techniques. Slash was one of the tigers that didn't mind fighting. Most of the others just wanted to deliver messages or transfer objects, some of them chose to be trackers or to be called upon in emergencies. Slash was probably the only one that wouldn't mind fighting on a regular basis, he also seems to have a bad habit of showing up whenever he likes just like some of her celestial spirits. Lucy took a deep breath in and let it out slowly as she looked at the beautiful April sky, the cold weather has finally passed and spring had settled in.

"Miss Lucy, it's time to go, Lady Tsunade is in the next town. Don't you want to catch her before she moves again?" Asked Slash as he came upon his summoner relaxing, he didn't want to disturb her since this is the first in a long time that she's looked so happy but they really did have to get moving. Slash noticed that his summoner usually had a far-off look about her, she was always thinking, analysing, calculating her next move. Honestly, she looked exhausted, he knew that she was hiding something important from him and the rest of her tiger summons but he didn't pry, it wasn't his place and she seemed to be getting a decent amount of sleep still.

"Alright, let's go learn some medical ninjutsu, finally," Lucy announced, she stood up and started stretching before hopping onto Slash's back and they started running towards her soon to be instructor.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy was currently trying to sneak into the Casino, nobody would allow her in without a guardian no matter what she said. Finally Lucy had, had enough and decided to use something that she never thought she would,

"Sexy Jutsu," she shouted and transformed herself into her older looking self in the clothes she wore at the bar in Stella to steal the ring from Zash, "won't you let me in boys?" She asked them sweetly before sending them a wink. Both of their faces turned bright red and their eyes were bulging, one of them got a bloody nose and the other passed out. Lucy slipped by the other since he seemed to not be able to move and transformed back onto her childlike body. She shuddered to herself, "I'm never gonna tell Naruto that his stupid jutsu worked," she grumbled and continued on her way.

Inside Lucy looked around trying to find someone that matched the description the Hokage gave her but it wasn't until a slot machine got thrown across the room followed by alcohol-induced yelling, walking towards it Lucy found a very skinny woman with short hair cradling a pig and a very drunk blonde women that had generous curves, Lucy's eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Excuse me are you Lady Tsunade?" Lucy asked as she walked up to them both,

"Who wants to know?" The blonde lady grumbled put and hiccupped at the end,

"My name is Lucy Heartfilia and I'm trying to learn medical ninjutsu, Lord Third said that you may be able to help me," she explained and bowed slightly before looking up at the blonde medic,

"I might be but why should I help a brat such as yourself?" She grumbled out still drunk,

"M'Lady, shouldn't you at least give her a trial? Don't just dismiss this," the skinny brown haired woman said,

"Mind your business Shizune," Tsunade growled out, "Well why should I?" She asked Lucy again. Lucy frowned as she stared at the blonde woman who seemed to be nothing like a medic,

"Because I want to learn, do I need another reason? What reason did you have to learn?" She challenged and Shizune took a small step back but Tsunade got into Lucy's face and Lucy could smell the Sake on her breath,

"That is of no concern to you," she said,

"Look I can see that you've had a troubled past, however, I do not care about that, I want to learn medical ninjutsu to help the people I have left. Can you help me or not?" Lucy questioned her and when she was met with silence she tsked and started to make her way out of the casino. "Let's go, Slash, there's nothing for us here," she said once she got outside and jumped onto her tiger summons, he nodded his head and started to make his way out of the town. Stopping just outside of the town under a large tree to rest under for the night,

"What now Miss Lucy?" Slash asked her as he lay down underneath the tree,

"I guess we'll travel for a couple more months, maybe try to find another teacher," she said, she didn't want to go back to the village at the moment. The way she left things with Kakashi, she didn't know where that left things between them. It's not like she knew how to describe their relationship before but she always looked at and cared for him like she would a member of Fairytail. Sighing Lucy told Slash that she was going to go train for a while and walked off into the clearing that was nearby.

Taking a deep breath before focusing her chakra into her eyes, Lucy started to look around, with her dojutsu she could see through objects and further distances. However, if she focused on something she could see inside the object or person, like muscles and blood vessels or water moving through plants but it wasn't like a Byakugan. The Byakugan could see the chakra network inside a person's body and have almost 360 vision, this allowed them to do jutsus that can block or unblock a person's chakra flow and avoid and counter attacks from almost all directions. Lucy's dojutsu seemed incomplete compared to that.

Looking over towards a wilting plant Lucy reached over and placed her hand on top of it, her hand started to glow a faded green colour and she started to slowly pour chakra into the plant. Once the plant looked healthy enough she took her hand away and smiled, "if only humans were so easy to heal," she grumbled to herself in frustration before letting her dojutsu deactivate, still frustrated she added chakra into her hand and swung it down towards the ground. Releasing the chakra on impact and jumped away from the ground that had started to split apart, "I may have overdone it," she whispered to herself as she looked at the damage, "I hope I don't get blamed for this," unknown to Lucy though someone had been watching her the whole time.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy slowly opened her eyes and sat up from where she was laying down and found that she was once again using Slash as a pillow. Stroking his short, sleek fur softly she smiled as she heard him purr. Giggling to herself, Lucy continued to stroke him until he snapped out of it once he realised what she was doing.

"Miss Lucy I don't think that that is appropriate, you know that if you do that my guard is let down," he said seriously,

"Honestly Slash, you don't have to be on guard all of the time. You should let yourself relax a little," Lucy said and tried to scratch him behind his ears but he shook his head,

"You are my summoner it is my job to protect you," hearing this Lucy frowned,

"You're not just my summons you know, you're also my friend, I think of all my summons as my family," Lucy said soothingly but didn't move to pat him again,

"Excuse me?" someone called from behind them and they turned around to see the skinny brown-haired woman from yesterday,

"Your name was Shizune right?" Lucy asked as she stood up while Slash moved slightly in front of her,

"yes, I've come to see if you still want to learn medical ninjutsu?" Shizune asked Lucy and when she hesitantly nodded Shizune continued, "I also know medical ninjutsu and while I'm nowhere near as good as Lady Tsunade but I could still teach you,"

"Why would you do that though? Aren't you travelling with Lady Tsunade?" Lucy started questioning,

"Yes but that doesn't mean you can't travel with us, I know that may not seem appealing to you but I guess that all depends on how much you want to learn Medical Ninjutsu," Shizune said to her with an amused expression, "I'm sure Lady Tsunade won't mind too much, provided that she doesn't have to provide for you," She continued to explain to Lucy, "so what do you say?" Shizune asked Lucy and Lucy looked at Slash before hesitantly nodding in agreement.

Lucy and Slash were walking behind Shizune as she leads them back to the inn that Tsunade and herself were staying in, last night when Shizune found Lucy and saw what she did to the plant and then use a mimicry technique of Tsunade's fighting style she knew that Tsunade would eventually agree to teach her. Shizune could only take her so far and she thought it would be good for Tsunade to teach someone. To be reminded of why she learnt medical ninjutsu in the first place.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy had been learning from Shizune for about a month now and her and Tsunade still don't see eye to eye. They fight like cats and dogs, it's even worse when Tsunade's drunk, she goes off on a tangent always saying that Lucy was just a brat that doesn't have what it takes to learn medical ninjutsu and Lucy was starting to believe her. She was still having trouble healing humans, she worked perfectly with plants and animals but for some reason, she just could fully heal people. Nothing larger than a wound that needed stitches, so for the moment Shizune was teaching her about poisons and antidotes. Which came in handy, now Lucy always carried around basic herbs on her person and stored away antidotes and remedies that were easy to make. At this moment though, Tsunade was off on another one of her tangents,

"Why do you even bother? You're not even trying are you?" She slurred out and Lucy was trying her best to ignore her as she read another human anatomy scroll, "I mean you probably don't even have anyone left to heal anyway," at this Lucy stood up abruptly and knocked over her chair that she had been sitting on,

"M'Lady," Shizune yelled out to try and stop her from talking,

"I'm going out for awhile Miss Shizune," Lucy whispered quietly and walked out of the door of the room they had purchased for the next three days.

Once Lucy was out the door Shizune turned to Tsunade in disapproval, "You took it too far this time, you need to apologise," she said and left no room for argument,

"Why though, she's just some brat that's mooching off of us, I bet that's the only reason she's here," Tsunade grumbled, Shizune had, had enough of the way Tsunade talks about her student though,

"Actually she's the only reason we can afford this room," Tsunade looked like she was starting to sober up as Shizune continued to talk, "did you know that she paid off your gambling debts in the last village we were in? Yeah, she took up cleaning jobs around the village to pay it off and despite what you may believe Lucy actually works really hard at her medical training. Every morning and every night she reads anatomy scrolls even though she has them memorised by now, she trains with plants and animals nonstop overworking her chakra until she passes out," Shizune continued to ramble, not even noticing that Tsunade had left the room by this point.

Tsunade was walking around the village thinking about what she said to Lucy before a loud crack snapped her out of it. Walking towards the direction of the noise she came to a clearing and found Lucy standing in the middle of a crater with glowing gold eyes. Lucy was breathing heavily and tiredly, she has never taken out her frustrations in a violent way before coming to this world and it's becoming more of a frequent need.

"Did you do this?" Asked an annoyingly familiar voice from behind Lucy and she turned to see Lady Tsunade standing there surprised,

"Yes," was Lucy's short reply, her eyes were still glowing and she saw the insides of Tsunade's body. Lady Tsunade's liver seemed to be repairing itself, "how do you do it?" Lucy asked her and Tsunade looked at her confused, "how is your body repairing itself?" She emphasised,

"How can you tell?" Tsunade challenged,

"I asked first," was Lucy's childish retaliation,

"Constant flow of chakra, it also keeps my appearance the same as my youth," Tsunade explained,

"My dojutsu allows me to see the insides of a person in great detail, your liver is currently being healed," Tsunade was greatly surprised at this and intrigued, if Lucy were to overcome her barrier in medical ninjutsu then it would be very likely that she would surpass even herself.

"Come back here tomorrow at dawn," was all Tsunade said before walking back to the inn.

 **Time Skip**

The next morning Tsunade was watching Lucy as she healed a dead fish, "Your chakra is different from anyone else I have ever seen, that's probably why it's difficult to heal people, their bodies are rejecting the foreign chakra," Tsunade said as she watched Lucy closely, she didn't know why she hadn't noticed this before. Lucy obviously wasn't a normal kunoichi, her chakra had a faint golden hue behind it. When Lucy focused her chakra and created a large concentration there was always a gold outline around the blue/green, "Lucy do you come from a clan of some sort?" Tsunade asked her,

"No, to my knowledge I'm the first in my family to become a shinobi," Lucy said, this wasn't the first time someone had asked her this. The Hokage and Kakashi had both asked her the same question, along with many others. Tsunade had a thoughtful look on her face,

"I might know if a way to separate your foreign chakra to the regular chakra inside of your body but I might need to research it a bit more, for now just meditate in place of your medical training and continue to memorise your anatomy scrolls," Tsunade commanded and Lucy nodded before going into her meditative state that Capricorn taught her.

It wasn't until three weeks later that Tsunade actually found something that could help Lucy,

"This is a seal that should be able to separate the two different chakra reserves that are flowing throughout your body, you'll still be able to use both so don't worry about that but it'll be like you have two chakra pools. It might be hard to distinguish between the two but with more training, you should hear it," Tsunade explained as she drew on Lucy with chalk,

"Any risks I need to know about?" Lucy asked,

"Not ones that concern your life," was Tsunade's vague reply before she activated the seal. Not waiting for Lucy to ask another question, Lucy clenched her mouth shut and was grinding her teeth together to stop screaming. The pain was almost unbearable, it was like someone was peeling her skin away but stopped just before it ripped itself away from her body. The last thing Lucy saw was Tsunade leaning over her before she passed out.


	15. Chapter 15

When Lucy woke up her entire body was aching, like she had run until she could no longer move and then had someone drop a boulder on her for good measure. Groaning she slowly sat up and looked around, she was in the room that Tsunade and Shizune had rented when they arrived at the Hidden Cloud village before they had been travelling in the surrounding towns but they needed more supplies before they headed towards the Land of Water.

"Finally awake are you?" Lucy heard a voice towards her left and she saw Tsunade walking towards her with a bowl in her hands, "You were out for almost a week," she said casually as she began to check on Lucy's seal to make sure that it was still in place,

"A week?" Lucy wondered out loud and was about to check her chakra and magic reserves but Tsunade stopped her,

"I wouldn't do that for a while, your body is under a lot of strain from the changes and it'll take time to adjust. Just take it easy for a while, use this time to continue your poison and antidote training with Shizune," she said, "the seal should be permanent but I want to check it monthly for a while and you are to remain under bed rest for the next two days for observation purposes," she continued her analysis of Lucy's condition, "I actually thought that you would be out longer but Shizune was right in saying that you're a fighter,"

"That sounds about right, considering I feel like crap," she said a bit grouchy.

For the next three months Lucy trained non stop in medical ninjutsu with Lady Tsunade, they still didn't get along too well but they respected each other so they could converse without fighting. It wasn't until Lucy had completed her training that Tsunade told her about the Strength of a Hundred Seal.

"If done correctly this seal will appear on your forehead once you've gathered enough chakra, however, it requires precise chakra control and it limits the amount you can use at a time. Once the seal has reached full capacity you will be able to use the Creation Rebirth technique that I created, this technique allows you to release the chakra that is store inside the strength of a Hundred seal and it is used to stimulate your body's cell division. Whenever your body has been damaged or a part of it has been destroyed, the injury will instantly heal regardless of the damage. So long as Creation Rebirth remains active, you won't be able to die. Creation Rebirth does not repair the old cells, instead of hastening the creation of new ones through division. Because your body's cells can only split a certain number of times, it will shorten your natural lifespan whenever this technique is used," Tsunade explained, "there is another technique that can be used but I'll save that for later," Tsunade finished and gave Lucy a scroll that explained chakra control in greater detail, "So far you've only been controlling it outside of your body, you need to be able to control it inside of your body as well. It should be second nature to you, you shouldn't have to concentrate on moving your chakra throughout your body it should just happen out if instinct. Understand?"

"Yes Milady," Lucy chanted back to her and got started on reading the scroll, Tsunade had a small smile on her face as she watched Lucy soak up the information like a sponge, she had come so far in such a short time. Five months in total to complete training, not to mention the fact that Lucy had been teaching herself medical ninjutsu before this. It truly was an impressive foot, there was no doubt in Tsunade's mind that Lucy would complete the Strength of a Hundred seal, maybe even improve it to suit her own needs. Lucy was born to be a kunoichi, no matter how much she wanted to deny the fact.

One week later Lucy had the scroll members and gave it back to Tsunade, "I believe that I should be going back to the village now, I have been away for half a year now," she said to both Shizune and Tsunade sheepishly, "thank you so much for all you've done for me," she said as she bowed to the two women,

"I was happy to help," Shizune said as she hugged the young girl, Tsunade grumbled out something that Lucy didn't try to hear and Shizune elbowed her,

"I mean, it was a pleasure," Tsunade finally let out and she shook Lucy's hand. Lucy giggled and summoned Slash before they both set out back to the village.

 **Time Skip**

When Lucy arrived at the village gates a couple days later it was in the middle of the night and pouring with rain, quickly showing her ANBU tattoo to the guards at the gate Lucy started making her way into town, wondering where she should stay. Hoping that he wouldn't throw her out she made her way to Sasuke's place.

Sasuke awoke to a knock on his door at 1 in the morning and irritably opened his door,

"Who is... Lucy?" Sasuke grumbled out but ended up looking surprised at Lucy who was soaking wet at his door,

"Do you think I can crash here for a while?" She asked him before she sneezed,

"Sure but out of curiosity, why can't you stay at the place you were living in before?" Sasuke asked her as he led her inside and handed her a towel,

"I have a feeling that I'm no longer welcome there," she said vaguely, "I would have gone to Naruto's place but I can only handle that smell for so long," she continued,

"Stay for as long as you like, we can talk more in the morning," Sasuke said before he told Lucy where the bathroom was and went to bed.

 **Time Skip**

Over the next few days, Lucy has been purposely avoiding Kakashi, not because she didn't want to talk things out with him but because she still didn't know what to say. She still wasn't ready to tell him about Earth land and it would probably only make things worse if she did anyway. However, she threw herself into the Hyuga scrolls that Hiashi had given her permission to read, in saying that though, they still weren't easy to obtain.

 ** _Flashback_**

 _"So you've completed your training? This doesn't make me feel any better about giving you clan information," Hiashi said sternly as Lucy sat in front of him determined to get those scrolls, Hinata was hiding behind the screen door, listening in on their conversation, "maybe if you were to take on the branch curse mark, I would be willing to give these scrolls to you," Lucy scowled at this but took a deep breath,_

 _"That can be arranged," as she said this Hiashi started to smirk before she continued on, "If it is tailored to my situation, for example, I will swear to absolute silence on Hyuga clan information, I agree to be an on-call healer for the head family of the clan only if it's related to clan secrets. If anything you request of me puts mine or any others life at risk I am allowed to refuse," Lucy kept on telling him her conditions and with each one, his face fell into a heavier scowl._

 _By the time everything was agreed upon Lucy walked out of there with her very own curse mark seal on her left shoulder blade._

 ** _Flashback end_**

It took a lot more persuading than Lucy thought and even more promises to her safety then she'd like to admit but she didn't trust Hinata's father, she'll trust him when he willingly dyes his hair pink and puts on cat ears. Lucy was currently going to the river that herself and Naruto camped beside almost a year ago and started conversing with her spirits about how to fix her magic problem.

 _'Hey Crux, I've been thinking about this for a while. Celestial magic is a form or star or special magic right? Well, do you think I could absorb energy straight from the stars?'_ She asked him silently,

 _'In theory, I suppose you could, but they are so far away that it would take a lot of concentration to draw that energy in,'_

 _'What if I drew in energy from the sun? It's still a star,'_

 _'I suppose it could work, you would need to draw it straight into your magic container though so your body knows what energy type to help turn it into,'_

 _'Thanks for all of your help Crux,'_ Lucy finished her conversation with Crux and sat down under the sun in a meditative position. Looking inside of herself and finding her magic container she noticed how it was directly connected to her second origin, remembering what Ultear said about everyone being born with a certain amount of magic. Although mages have a second "Container" for their Magic power that is largely unused called the Second Origin. Once a person has released their Second Origin, they can either choose to use it at all times, to great power up their abilities or save it for later, using it as a trump card for later in the battle. Deciding to go with the second option Lucy started to expand her first magical container and save her second container for emergencies, such as using Urano Metria. Lucy sat there, drawing in the sun's natural energy and refilling her container and then expanding the size. She did this until the sunset and the stars were high in the sky.

Later that night Lucy stumbled into Sasuke's place and collapsed on the couch, "What happened to you?" He drawled out in a bored tone of voice,

"Training, I was trying something new," she explained to him vaguely,

"Someone came by looking for you today,"

"Oh yeah, who?"

"Not too sure, he said that you used to live with him and to tell you that he wants to talk to you," he replied and Lucy tensed slightly,

"I guess I can't avoid him forever," she mumbled quietly, "I'll see what he wants tomorrow if I have the time," she said before she yawned and got up to go to the bathroom and get ready for bed.

The next day first thing in the morning Lucy was on her way to the Hokages office, this would be the first time that she's seen him since she's been back, other than the night she returned of course but that was only to let him know that she had finished her training. She made an appointment with him as to sort out whether she was allowed to continue helping out at the academy or if he had found her a team yet. Lucy also wanted to work at the hospital whenever they needed extra hands, even if it's only as a cleaner or a nurse that reads information to a surgeon from a scroll or something.

Arriving at the Hokages office Lucy walked in once she heard him call for her, she was surprised to see Kakashi there as well but tried to keep her surprise hidden, "Lord Hokage I would like to speak with you about my current position in the village," Lucy started to say but he held up a hand to stop her,

"Yes I know, as long as you wear the forehead protector of the leaf and do the missions I assign to you within reason you may go about your day freely and do as you like," he said warmly and Lucy was slightly surprised,

"I see, thank you," was all she could say,

"Now I have another matter to discuss with you," the Hokage said seriously, "it appears that you have been put into the bingo book," at this Kakashi turned to the Hokage in shock and Lucy was frowning,

"It would if happened sooner or later I suppose, what exactly does it say?" She asked,

"It says,  
Name: Unknown,  
Given Alias: Golden Wave  
Age: Unknown,  
Gender: female,  
Appearance: blonde and brown eyes,  
Abilities: adept at water ninjutsu, weaponry and has a mysterious dojutsu.  
Bounty: 40,773.54 Ryo (or $5,000 Aus Dollars)  
No further information has been discovered." The Hokage looked up from the black book that was in front of him and looked at Lucy with a raised eyebrow, "it would appear that you're making a name for yourself, Miss Gold," he said amused and Lucy shrugged sheepishly,

"At least they don't know I'm from the leaf,"

"Can someone please explain to me how this came to be in the first place?" Kakashi snapped at them,

"You didn't tell him?" The Hokage asked her and raised an eyebrow at her,

"It never came up," was all Lucy said as she shrugged and frowned, still not looking at Kakashi,

"Miss Lucy here is apart of the ANBU Black Ops," Lord Third stated calmly, waiting for Kakashi to finally explode,

"What? She's just a little girl," he yelled out and Lucy got mad,

"That is not up for you to decide, stay out of my business Kakashi," she yelled at him and he turned to look at her slightly shocked but looked down when he remembered their disagreement.

"Can we talk please?" He asked her quietly after a few minutes of awkward silence, Lucy looked towards the Hokage who nodded his head at her and she sighed before turning around to leave through the door. Kakashi followed quickly behind her after she reached a small lunch stand in the town she ordered herself a strawberry smoothie and waited patiently for him to start.

"Lucy, I," he started but stopped and let out a breath that he had been holding in, "I don't really know how to start," he finished,

"How about with why I'm here?" She suggested to him snidely, Kakashi sighed at her tone, knowing that this wasn't going to be easy,

"Look I'm sorry okay? I'm sorry for what I said, it's just everytime you and I seem to take a step forwards you suddenly jump ten feet backwards," Kakashi said frustrated, "It's not just that you don't tell me things Lucy but you're actively keeping then from me, like the fact that you're ANBU,"

"You're right," she whispered and Kakashi stopped his ranting, "I do intentionally keep things from you," she said louder and Kakashi looked at her slightly hurt, "but you're not exactly an open book either Kakashi, I'm sure there are things that you keep from me as well, the only difference is, is that I don't push you for answers," she emphasised 'you' and Kakashi looked slightly embarrassed and rubbed the back of his head,

"I'm sorry about that I just got frustrated, I didn't mean to use the fact that you weren't born here as an excuse," he said apologetically,

"Why exactly do you get so frustrated with me keeping things from you? I mean it's not like I don't tell you other things," Lucy asked him and took a mouthful of her strawberry smoothie,

"Because Ibiki knows and I don't," he grumbled out and looked away from her,

"What does Ibiki have to do with this?"

"I didn't realise this until Gai yelled at me after you left but I hate the fact you feel like you can share things with Ibiki that you can't with me," he admitted to her, "I mean come on Lucy, we're like family. We live together, we eat together, we even use the same bathroom, why can he know and I can't?" he started to rave but stopped at the blank look Lucy was giving him,

"You really know nothing about girls do you?" She asked him hypothetically and sighed in annoyance, "It's because at the time I didn't care whether he believed me or not," when she said this he looked at her confused, "I mean I'm glad that he did, it took a lot of stress off of me but that's beside the point. Truth be told, I don't want to tell you because it's crazy, if I hadn't seen it before or had been through it myself I wouldn't believe it,"

"I'm still not understanding, you told Ibiki because you didn't care about his opinion?" He asked her and she nodded her head, "and you won't tell me because you do care about my opinion?" He continued to ask and Lucy gave him a look that could only be translated as 'duh you idiot'. Kakashi sighed deeply as he ordered himself a drink, "So I got emotional for nothing?" He grumbled to himself hoping that Lucy didn't hear him, "Hold on just a minute, when did you become an ANBU?" He demanded from her as he remembered the reason why they were talking in the first place but all Lucy did be look away and finish her smoothie.

 **Time Skip**

A couple of days later Lucy could be found inside the Hyuga clan walls in their personal training field, both herself and Hinata were helping each other with their taijutsu, Hinata helping Lucy by giving her pointers and correcting her form. Lucy helping Hinata by watching her fight and telling her where she should adjust her style. It was hard work, trying to learn a new style of taijutsu or even change the style you currently have, it's like being right-handed your whole life that suddenly trying to write with your left. It feels uncomfortable and unnatural compared to the way you're used to fighting.

"instead of blocking most of my hits you should try to dodge them and move your body around to try and hit them. Once you finish your speed training this should be no problem for you," Lucy said as she was wearing her Capricorn star dress and sparring with Hinata using the Hyuga style,

"Y-yes, r-right,"

"You're wasting your time," a voice said from behind them and they stopped sparring to turn and look at them. It was a boy not much older than Lucy, maybe three years, he was familiar. He had the Hyuga eyes, long black hair and a glare on his face,

"B-brother N-Neji," Hinata stuttered out and Lucy's eyes lit up with recognition,

"You're Hinata's cousin," she states with certainty,

"You're never going to get anywhere with training her, her fate has been decided. You can't change that," he snarled out harshly and Hinata looked down at the ground, Lucy glared at him,

"Mind your own business brat, what does fate have to do with anything?" Lucy questioned harshly, not liking the way he was speaking about her friend,

"You can't change your fate, that girl is nothing but a failure, you can't change that," he growled out in anger at being called a brat,

"If I've learnt anything in my life it's that fate has nothing to do with my life, I decide my own path and I have no one else to blame for my actions but myself. What's the point in using fate as an excuse to stay the same, if you're unhappy about something then change it, don't blame something else for your problems," Lucy yelled out and Neji looked surprised before he glared viciously at her,

"What would you know about life? You're just some kid, happily living life, you don't know the meaning of pain or loss," at this point in his speech Lucy got angry. She lowered her head slightly so that her bangs covered her eyes,

"How dare you," she whispered to him,

"What was that? Trying to apologise huh?" He said smugly, but looked surprised when Lucy looked back up at him with golden eyes,

"How dare you assume what I know and what I don't. What because I'm happy with my life that means I don't know what it's like to feel pain and loss? At least I'm not wallowing in self-pity, blaming everyone else for my problems. You shouldn't go around underestimating people's pain or someone with less patience than I would be kicking your ass," she yelled out at him and Hiashi walks out into the training field to see what the commotion is about.

Once Hinata explained what was happening to her father he smirked lightly, "this could be a good chance to see how your training has been coming along, how about a taijutsu battle? You will both meet here in an hour," he said and walked back inside. Lucy began to walk towards the Hyuga clan gates and left, not looking back at Neji.

This battle was solely based on taijutsu, so she went back to Sasuke's place and left all of the weapons in the living room. Assuming that she could use her dojutsu, she meditated until her chars reserves were replenished and went back to the Hyuga compound. Leaning against a tree Lucy waited for Neji and Hiashi to make their appearance, once they arrived Hiashi stood in the middle of the training field and started to explain the rules,

"Okay this is just a taijutsu spar, so the winner will either be decided by the first who can draw blood, by the other forfeiting or I will step in if necessary. This is a clean fight, no weapons, ninjutsu, tags, seals, genjutsu and just for the sake of safety no head blows. Do I make myself clear?" He said strictly to both Lucy and Neji, by this time others from the clan had seen the commotion and I caught their attention. Lucy saw Hinata and her little sister Hanabi, hiding behind the screen door and peeking out to see what was going on, "begin," Hiashi yelled out and moved backwards out of the way.

Neji was standing in his taijutsu stance, one that Lucy had seen Hinata doing multiple times, but he was different. It was sturdier, almost rock solid, like nothing, could move him. Lucy took her own taijutsu stance, one that with both Hinata's and Capricorn's help she had almost perfected. It was similar to the Hyuga stance but Lucy didn't make a palm, she only held out two fingers on each hand. Her middle and pointer fingers and her legs weren't as wide apart as Neji's either. They were shoulder-width apart and her left was in front of her right, but her feet were turned so that she could dodge in any direction. Lucy had worked out the difference between the Hyuga taijutsu style and what she wanted to achieve with her own style. It was similar to what she was working on with Hinata, flexibility and speed, with perfect chakra control and puncture precision. Only Lucy aimed for the pressure points and Hinata would still aim for the chakra network. Then they both activated their dojutsu's.

Neji got impatient and made the first move, he decided to run forwards with his hands still in the same position. When he got close enough he pushed his right hand out towards her and added some chakra to the blow, however, before it could touch her, Lucy grabbed onto his hand with her own and then quickly punctured a pressure point on his wrist, inner elbow and underneath his shoulder. She then proceeded to jump back and wait for his next move.

Neji looked surprised but his look quickly changed into one of anger when his arm went limp at his side, _'How did she do that? I didn't even see her hands move,'_ he thought to himself.

Hiashi was watching with great interest, the young prodigy of his own clan was struggling against someone who had only been practising a taijutsu style similar to their own for less than a couple of months. Not even if you start from when she got her hands on the Hyuga scrolls. Her dojutsu is obsolete at best and she doesn't even know her limits with it yet but she was smart and could make snap decisions mid-battle. Something a Nara would take years of training to accomplish.

Lucy made the first move this time, jumping into the air and lifting her leg up above her head she brought it down where Neji was once standing and made a small crater with her foot. Neji was looking at the place where he just moved from with caution and a little scared but snapped out of it when Lucy turned around and started to push forward her hands one at a time in an attempt to puncture another pressure point. Neji kept dodging, making sure she didn't touch him. With him being on the offensive Lucy could now concentrate her chakra into multiple parts of her body at once, something Hinata mentioned some Hyuga could do in order to achieve clan jutsu. It was at this moment that Neji decided to strike, he pushed his palm towards her chest and Lucy bent backwards in order to avoid it. Instead of coming back up though she flipped all the way around, when he feet were level with Neji's arm she let out a short burst if chakra through her toes and hit him under his elbow and wrist again.

Once she had flipped the whole way around and was upright again she jumped back and was back into her defensive stance, waiting for Neji to either make a move of forfeit. Once again Hiashi was surprised by the abilities of this girl and was for once glad that she had decided to train with his eldest daughter. If this went on for any longer Neji was going to humiliate himself or end up seriously hurt,

"Alright, that's enough, I think we all know who won that round," Hiashi said, he was conflicted about whether he should be glad that someone of such skill was to be his clan's healer or angry at the fact that she just humiliated the clan's prodigy. He turned around and walked inside, "fix him up will you," he said sternly to Lucy as he disappeared through the door.

Lucy walked over to Neji who was still glaring at her, she added chakra into her fingers and quickly punctured more pressure points on his arm,

"Ow, what the hell," he yelled out at her, before realising he could move his arm, Lucy did the same to his left arm and he yelled out in pain again. She smiled sweetly at him before stepping back, "there isn't a less painful way to do that?" He rhetorically asked her,

"Oh, there is," was all she said as she made her way out of the Hyuga compound.

 **Time Skip**

It had been just over a month since Lucy came back to the village and she had moved back in with Kakashi after he convinced her it was best,

 ** _Flashback starts_**

 _"Come on Lucy, I left your room the way it was. Just move back," Kakashi had tried for the umpteenth time,_

 _"No Kakashi, I think it's time that I live on my own. Besides you don't want a child living with you anyways," she dismissed, she was on her way back to Sasuke's place,_

 _"That's not true, I enjoyed living with you, you were usually the one_ that did _the cooking," he said in amusement and Lucy turned back to glare at him, "come on Lucy, do you really think it's a good idea to inconvenience the Uchiha boy by staying on his couch?" He asked her and at this Lucy paused,_

 _"I don't know if I can Kakashi," she whispered and Kakashi suddenly realised that the reason was that of their fight,_

 _"What can I do to make it up to you?" He asked her, "I'll do anything," he said and Lucy suddenly got a mischievous look in her eye,_

" _Anything?" She repeated to him slyly and Kakashi gulped before agreeing. The next thing Kakashi knew he was sitting in the middle of a restaurant wearing a pink bonnet and bow tie while Lucy was wearing a princess costume and tiara, "pinkies out Sir kitten," she reminded him while holding out her cup with her pinky flexed waiting for him to clink their cups of tea together._

 _What made the experience all the more humiliating for Kakashi was that all of his Jonin co-workers were sitting at the bar of the restaurant taking photos_ _of him and laughing their asses off._

 ** _Flashback end_**

Lucy giggled at the memory as she made her way to the Hokages office. Being in the body of a child had its perks sometimes. Upon arrival at the Hokage's office, she was greeted by the Hokage's serious expression and knew that she had a mission to do.

After getting the details of the mission Lucy went home to get changed into her ANBU uniform and swiftly made her way out of the village the rendezvous point. It was different each time and it could only be worked out by a code of sorts, one that only herself and Itachi knew, not even the Hokage knew of it. Which is why he made her leave once of her tracking tigers with him so he could send back up if she took too long.

They met in a secluded cave close the Land Of Wind, Itachi was there earlier than her as usual and he looks exhausted. The bags under his eyes were dark and puffy like he hadn't slept in years. Considering what he had to do he probably hasn't,

"Itachi, it's good to see you," Lucy whispered upon her arrival and Itachi stood up to greet her, "How long until you have to go back?" She asked him after they both sat down,

"Not until tomorrow, I was just on a job but I finished early," he replied smoothly, if Lucy was in her original body she probably would have blushed at the sound of his voice, "have you finished your medical training?" He asked her as she stored the scroll that he just gave her away,

"Yes, Lady Tsunade said that she had nothing left to teach me, just said that I needed to stay updated with new coming poisons and such," she exclaimed excitedly, it was moments like these that Itachi looked forward to because just for a little while he could pretend that he wasn't a murderer, "since you don't have to go back just yet, maybe you should get some rest," she said to him, "I'll guard for a couple hours and wake you before I leave," she said to him,

"It wouldn't do me any good anyway, I just wake with nightmares,"

"So do I, most of the time but I have this pillow with special wool inside. It's called peace sleep, maybe you could try it,"

"Like a security blanket?" Itachi asked her with disbelief written all over his face,

"No, just trust me okay?" She laughed out and she then summoned Aries, "Open, Gate of the Ram, Aries," she said firmly and with a golden glow Aries came forth from her key,

"I'm sorry, what do you need Miss Lucy?" She asked her nervously and Itachi looked on in amazement,

"Hey Aries, this is Itachi, could you give him some of you peace sleep wool for me?" She asked and Aries scrunched up her face in concentration,

"I'll try my best Miss, I'm sorry," she said and put her hands out in front of her and made a little bundle of wool. This specific type of wool needed more magic to create because it affects the mind, not just the body,

"Thanks, Aries you can go back now, say hello to everyone for me," she said as she waved goodbye to her fluffy spirit,

"Call me out again soon, I'm sorry," she said with her usual apology and flashed back to the spirit realm,

"What was that?" Itachi asked in slight awe before schooling his features back to his usual bored expression,

"That was a Celestial Spirit that I have a contract with. It's kind of like a summoning jutsu but my spirits are essentially immortal beings that come from a different world. These keys allow me to summon the ones I have a contract with, the golden keys are more powerful and take more energy to summon and maintain their existence here on Earth while the silver keys take less energy but have less power, a lot of them are usual companions or pets," Lucy briefly explained the basics and Itachi nodded his head before lying back and resting his head on the makeshift pillow, "I'll wake you up in a couple of hours," she whispered before turning her attention to the front of the cave.

 **Time Skip**

It was exactly three hours later that Lucy woke up Itachi, who hadn't made a peep the entire time he has been sleeping but before she could say anything to him he started to talk,

"Lucy, I was going to tell you this before but it slipped my mind. The Akatsuki has taken an interest in you, I advise that you keep a low profile and only use your abilities in your ANBU uniform," Itachi began and Lucy was beginning to grow concerned, "I'll try to keep their interests away from you but just be cautious," he whispered out,

"Thank you Itachi, I have something to tell you as well," she said and, "when I was scouting the area I used my dojutsu and I couldn't help but notice that something about your eyes aren't functioning normally," she said and he froze, "It's because you use your Sharingan too much isn't it?" She asked him and once she saw him nod she continued, "it's very seen something similar in the Hyuga clan eyes before, although yours it to such a great extent. I might not be able to heal all of it but I can soothe the pain for you," she said and Itachi began to relax.

"It only happens if I use mangekyou Sharingan, if I use it too much I could die. It causes cancer like symptoms, there is no cure," he rasped out and Lucy looked like she was about to cry but held it in,

"Would you let me ease some of the pain?" She asked him and he nodded his head. She motioned for him to lay down and she took off her mask so she could see properly, activating her dojutsu she began to slowly pour her medical chakra into his eyes soothingly, she gently pushed and pulled her chakra, weaving it through his eyes and towards the back of his sockets. Like a chakra massage.

Lucy began to breathe in deeply as she began to get low on chakra and she slowly came to a stop and gently pulled her chakra out of his eyes, "there that should do it for a little while, I would advise that you don't use your eyes at all but I know that you will either way," Lucy said in a scolding voice and Itachi chuckled before sitting up,

"Thank you, Lucy, I feel much better than what I have in years," he said softly,

"Alright, well I have to get going. At least try to take it easy, okay?" She rhetorically asked him as she started to make her way out of the cave,

"Wait, Lucy," Itachi called out from behind her and she turned towards him only to get poked in the forehead roughly. She winced as she began to rub it,

"What was that for?" She asked him in a snobbish voice,

"Maybe I'll tell you, next time, Lucy," he said before he left the cave, leaving Lucy confused. She shook her head and started making her way back to Konoha with her mask inplace. Not even 10 minutes had passed before she was surrounded by a group 20 people they were all masked, they didn't look to be a ninja but Lucy wasn't going to take that chance, she quickly activated her dojutsu and suddenly one of the people in the crowd whistled,

"Looks like we got the Golden Wave, that's a big bounty we could split boys," he croaked out. Lucy tensed slightly but kept her guard up, she could feel her chakra reserves getting low, she did just try to heal Itachi and all. Not that he knows that she did more then just sooth the pain, she coated the point at which his chakra and his eyes connect with her own chakra to make then more durable, "wonder if we should take her dead or alive?" The masked man that spoke before shook Lucy from her thoughts and they all laughed obnoxiously, subtly Lucy tapped behind Slash's right ear twice and he instantly knew what to do.

Slash flung Lucy off of his back and pushed chakra into his paws, they began to glow a blue colour before they started to form a chakra nature. Now that his paws were laced with the wind he was 10 times faster than before.

In the air, Lucy flipped around to avoid being hit by a couple of kunai and once she was upright again she extended her leg and laced it with chakra, releasing the chakra on impact with the ground to create a large created and to make the ground unstable. The group of men began to stumble and Slash used this to rave around and knock a few of them out. With a majority of the group still left Lucy decided to call out a spirit,

"Open gate of the archer, Sagittarius," she yelled out and Sagittarius appeared in his usual horse head costume,

"Hidy-ho my lady," he said strongly and saluted her,

"Could you cover me?" She asked him,

"Righty oh, my aim stays true," he said and started to unleash his arrows on the group that were charging towards them. Using this as a change to use taijutsu to preserve chakra but Lucy could feel herself getting tired, healing and calling out a spirit were both taxing, especially when doing both within the same hour. Lucy discovered this while she was training with Lady Tsunade, after healing a major injury she could only call out one spirit or else she would collapse. The reason for this is because Lucy still had trouble only using chakra whilst healing, she had to physically hold back her magic power from entering the other person, it was like healing and meditating at the same time. While separating the chakra and magic containers, magic was still like second nature to Lucy.

All of a sudden more masked people came out of nowhere "What the heck, why couldn't I sense them?" She whispered to herself, "Slash could you sense them?" She whispered to her tiger summons once they were back to back in the middle of the group,

"No, they might have a sensory blocker among them," he whispered to her,

"A what?" She asked him quite panicked,

"A sensory blocker, they can either mask people's chakra or in rarer cases block someone else's ability to sense chakra," He explained and Lucy began to think,

"Star dress, Scorpio," she called out an immediately her clothes changed into that of Scorpios star dress, "wind style, eternal vortex jutsu," Lucy yelled out and after she completed the necessary hand signs she blew out a huge gust of wind and aimed it towards the trees in order to figure out if more were hiding up there, "sand buster," she yelled out and a small vortex of sand came out of her chain like scorpion tail and made the group of men on the ground cough. "Ahh," Lucy yelled out when a kunai came out of the sand dust and hit her in the shoulder,

"Open gate of the Lion, Leo," Lucy called out,

"Lucy no," Slash yelled as he ran to her,

"You push yourself too much beautiful," Loke said as he instantly came out of his key and caught Lucy as she fell to her knees, she changed back into her original clothes and Sagittarius disappeared back to the celestial realm. That was the last thing she felt before passing out.

 **Times skip**

Lucy was back in the hospital with Loke by her side, the door slammed open, Kakashi and the Hokage walked briskly into the room,

"What happened?" Kakashi demanded but the Hokage held up his hand in order to try and calm him down before turning to Loke,

"Could you please explain to us the situation?" He asked him politely and patiently, seeing how worried Loke was,

"Lucy was cornered, she had just finished healing someone when she got jumped. She started to summon her spirits as the last resort, I'm currently here on my own power so it doesn't strain her any more. She overused her chakra reserves by using her dojutsu too much, it caused her to delve into her backup reserves which hadn't been filled completely yet so it caused some damage," Loke explained as he stared worriedly down at his wizard,

"So then after her chakra reserves refill she should be fine," Kakashi said in a bit of relief but Loke and the Hokage tensed slightly,

"Not exactly," Loke whispered and Kakashi grew concerned and confused,

"What do you mean?"

"Lucy is going to kill me," Loke whispered before he turned to talk to Kakashi, "There's something you have to know about Lucy, something that she's terrified to tell you but her safety has been put at risk too many times for me not to tell you. You live with Lucy so it should be easier for you to monitor her," Loke started to explain and the Hokage made his way out of the room so that they could have some privacy,

"Okay," Kakashi said slowly,

"You know all of those stories that she likes to tell so much?" Loke asked him, it would make explaining things a lot easier for him,

"Yes?" Kakashi said but it sounded more like a question,

"They're all real Kakashi," Loke said as he looked up into Kakashi's eyes to see them widen and confused.

Lucy was running late to the academy once again. She had stayed up all night trying to teach Naruto the cloning technique for tomorrows exam. Not that he knew that it was on the exam. Running into the classroom she found that Iruka still wasn't there and sighed in relief at not being late,

"You were almost late," drones out a seemingly bothered voice from beside her and she turned to face Sasuke,

"Almost being the key word Sasuke," Lucy said happily, she looked around and saw Hinata sitting up the back if the classroom and waved excitedly to her,

"I don't know how you can be so happy in the morning," Sasuke said from beside her,

"And I don't know how such a stick in the mud can have so many fangirls," Lucy said back quickly,

"I'm not a stick in the mud I'm just focused," he said, trying to convince her,

"Yeah right, Sasuke you have so many kunai shoved up your butt that I can see them trying to come out of your mouth," Lucy said and Sasuke's face turned bright red and he spluttered for a response,

"That's vile," was all he could say before he went back to his seat grumpily while Lucy giggled at him, walking up to Shikamaru and Choji to say good morning and to make sure that Shikamaru didn't fall asleep before class even begins.

"Good morning Shino, how are you?" Lucy asked as she came to a stop by Shino's desk. Ever since Lucy had come back from her training with Lady Tsunade she has taken an interest in the types of poisonous bugs that the Aburame clan work with. Shino nodded his head at her to indicate that he heard her and she smiled before moving towards Sasuke's desk and sat down in her usual spot beside him. Despite the glares that Lucy felt on the back of her head she smiled at Sasuke before pulling out the scroll that he had given her on fire ninjutsu and started to read it for the umpteenth time. So far she had only been able to add fire to kunai and shuriken, maybe heat up her hands. It was frustrating that she couldn't get it but it also made sense, water came so naturally to her even more so than wind and lightning which were her original natures.

"When you do the fireball jutsu, gather heated chakra into your stomach and then let it out," she heard from beside her and looked at Sasuke who was now looking out of the window, "you should be able to apply that to another fire style as well," he continued to mumble, "I'll show you tomorrow after the exam," he said, still not looking towards her. Lucy smiled brightly at Sasuke and squealed slightly before launching out of her seat in order to hug him,

"Thank you Sasuke," she said out loud and just to annoy his fangirls she added, "I can't wait until tomorrow afternoon," all of a sudden she felt a chill go down her spine and turned to see Sasuke's fangirls glaring at her with a killing intent. Lucy smiled at them and mockingly wiggled her fingers in their direction, Sasuke sighed at her antics, knowing that she was just making fun of them and that she didn't actually mean what she was implying. Suddenly Sakura was sitting next to Lucy quietly, she knew not to start something up in front of Sasuke.

"I've had it up to here Naruto," Iruka shouted as he stormed into the classroom and dropped a tied up Naruto onto the floor, "you've failed the exam twice already and tomorrow you have another chance but you're messing it up again," he shouted but all Naruto did was turn away with a humph. "Fine because you missed it Naruto, everyone will review the transformation jutsu," at this the entire class groaned while Lucy sighed tiredly, "Lucy please demonstrate for me," Iruka yelled out to her and Lucy made her way down to the front of the classroom, she untied Naruto and stood in front of everyone,

"Transform," Lucy yelled and transformed into Happy, once she transformed into the little blue cat she jumped high into the air and yelled, "aye,"

"Umm, a blue cat, okay then," Iruka mumbled confused as she turned back and walked to stand in front of the students, "Alright everyone line up, first Sakura Haruno,"

This continued until everyone except Naruto was called upon, several of the students complained about Naruto but he walked up anyway, suddenly he transformed into a naked blonde girl with blue eyes. Iruka had a huge blush on his face and collapsed in a pool of his own nose blood, as Naruto started laughing, Iruka got up to yell at him and Lucy covered her eyes slightly with her hand in embarrassment and slight disbelief.

"That idiot," Sasuke whispered from beside her and Lucy had to agree with him, playing tricks was okay outside of the academy but he should be taking his education seriously if he wanted to be Hokage. Maybe if he was passing all of his classes he could get away with it but he was failing every single one, even in taijutsu and weapon training, something that Lucy had tried to drill into him since she started helping at the academy. It's safe to say that, that didn't happen. After the academy ended Lucy walked home after making sure that Naruto was okay and didn't need any help cleaning the Hokage's faces. Now that she's achieved her training goals she can focus more on making contact with Fairy Tail, that doesn't mean that Lucy doesn't train though. In fact, she meditates morning and night, practises her ninjutsu and taijutsu and has been working with Shikaku on tactics, that's mostly them playing shoji though.

Her life in the village has become peaceful and mundane if it weren't for the fact that she's an ANBU she would honestly be bored with life, she longs for adventure and excitement. However, in saying that, she only does ANBU missions that involve Itachi or the Akatsuki, so they are very far and few in between. She is still teamless as well, her skills maybe ANBU level but she's still a Genin until she takes the chunin exams and because she doesn't have a team she can't participate. All Lucy does now is looking into sealing techniques, work part-time at the hospital, help out in the academy and sometimes train with Hinata, which would probably end once she graduates anyway. Her life has become a routine and it's not that she doesn't enjoy it, it's just in Fairy Tail, there was no such thing as normal. Lucy missed that and it just made her long to get to Earth Land even more.

Arriving home to the empty house, Lucy sighed as she heard the silence speak volumes to her. It had been almost six months since Kakashi found out about Fairy Tail he's been going on more and more missions, he seemed to take things pretty well and accept it, she had told him why she didn't tell him for so long and he assured her that nothing would change. That it didn't matter that she was from another world but with him always gone it didn't really seem that way but it's not like Lucy didn't see this coming though, she knew he would distance himself from her, she just wished that it didn't affect her as much as it did.

"Maybe I should stay with Sasuke tonight, or stop at Naruto's and make him dinner and lunch for tomorrow," Lucy wondered out loud as she lay down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. The next day Lucy was walking to the academy with three boxed lunches, one for both Naruto and Sasuke and another for herself, no doubt Sasuke wouldn't bother with making himself lunch because he would be too busy studying for the exam and Naruto as well... Naruto. Walking into the classroom she sat in her usual seat next to Sasuke and waited for everyone to arrive. Once both Sasuke and Naruto had arrived they both sat on either side of her, leaving on a seat at the end of the classroom desk.

"Here boys, I made you both lunch. I figured you probably didn't bring any because of the exam today," Lucy said brightly as she handed them their boxed lunch,

"Wow, thanks Lucy, your lunches are the best," Naruto yelled out and was about to eat it but Lucy stopped him,

"Maybe I should hold on to yours," she whispered and quickly took it off of him and turned towards to Sasuke to ignore Naruto's complaints, "well?" Lucy questioned him,

"Hmm, thanks," was all he said and Lucy smiled at him, Naruto turned away from the scene in annoyance. One by one people were called in to take the exam in a separate room while Naruto was quietly freaking out about it being the clone jutsu.

Lucy went to wait out the front of the academy to congratulate the graduates, even though the fangirls mostly just glares at her.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy jolted up in her bed by a loud knock on the door, walking downstairs and opening it she saw Iruka standing there breathing heavily,

"Have you seen Naruto?" He gasped out and Lucy suddenly looked worried,

"Not since the academy, why? What's wrong?" She asked him,

"He stole a forbidden scroll and ran off with it," he yelled out before taking off to look for the knucklehead,

"That doesn't sound like Naruto, pranks maybe but stealing something so important," Lucy whispered to herself as she went to go get dressed and start looking for him. Lucy ran through the woods with her dojutsu activated and started searching for Naruto. Lucy found him with a giant scroll on the ground and he was reading from it,

"Come on, multi shadow clone jutsu," Naruto shouted as he made a couple of hand signs and a couple of Naruto's poofed into existence. Lucy stared on in amazement as Naruto created double the amount of clones each time he performed the jutsu. She smiled down at him fondly and continued to watch him.

A couple of hours later Iruka showed up, out of breath and staggering towards him, "finally found you Naruto," Iruka said sternly,

"Aw I guess you finally found me, and I only got one jutsu down too," Naruto said sheepishly, Iruka then studied Naruto's appearance,

"What have you been doing all of this time?"

"Aha, just wait until I show you, now that I know a just off of this scroll you'll let me graduate right?" Naruto asked him excitedly and Iruka froze,

"Who gave you an idea like that?" He asked the blonde boy,

"Mizuki-sensei told me, he said that if I showed you the techniques in this scroll then you'd let me graduate and become a shinobi," Naruto said excitedly and was suddenly pushed away by Iruka. Iruka was pinned to the tree by kunai and shuriken,

"Ah I'm surprised that you figured out how to find this place, Naruto hand over the scroll," Mizuki said as he landed on top of a tree branch and Naruto sat on the ground looking confused,

"I get it now," Iruka groaned out from his place against the tree,

"What the hell is going on?" Naruto asked and Lucy was tempted to go down and intervene,

"Naruto whatever you do, don't give him the scroll," Iruka yelled, "it contains very dangerous forbidden jutsu, Mizuki used you to get it for himself," Naruto gasped and looked at Mizuki in disbelief,

"Even if you read the scroll it'll be pointless, do you know why?" Mizuki said tauntingly,

"Shut up, it's forbidden to say anything," Iruka yelled and Lucy stayed where she was, she knew what Mizuki was talking about but she always thought that Naruto should know, she just didn't think that it would be revealed in this way,

"Do you know what happened all those years ago during the Nine-tails beast attack?" Mizuki continued,

"W-what do you mean, what happened?" Naruto stuttered out quietly,

"After the incident, there was a decree that bound the villages people to secrecy,"

"What, I don't know of any decree,"

"You wouldn't, the decree was meant for everyone except you," Mizuki said in a dark tone, "the decree was, was that no one was to tell you what you really are, you are the demon fox," Mizuki yelled out laughing and Naruto was standing there in shock,

"W-what are you talking about?" Naruto suddenly yelled out,

"You are the demon fox that destroyed the village 12 years ago and it wasn't until Lord Forth trapped and bound you in this form," Mizuki yelled out,

"Shut it," Iruka yelled but it was already too late, Naruto now knew why everyone hated him,

"Didn't you think it was odd that everyone in this village despised you? Even Iruka hates you, you did kill his parents after all," Mizuki mocked and got out a demon wind shuriken. Naruto started to panic, he was shaking his head and repeated, 'no,' to himself, over and over again.

"No one will ever accept you Naruto, it's useless and that scroll is your bondage," Mizuki screamed out like a maniac and threw the large shuriken. Lucy was about to jump down and block it but she saw Iruka move and decided to wait a little longer.

Iruka was standing over Naruto with blood covering his chunin vest and had a slight dribble coming out of his mouth. Naruto looked up at him in shock and Iruka smiled slightly down at him, "W-why?" Naruto stuttered out,

"I know that I was so hard on you Naruto, yelling at you and scolding you. I'm sorry, it must have hurt you. If I had just been a better teacher and looked out for you more, maybe this could have been avoided," Iruka declared with tears streaming down his face and Lucy smiled knowing that she wouldn't have to interfere like she thought she would. Naruto suddenly looked at Mizuki who was staring at the two of them frustrated and darted off, "Naruto," Iruka yelled and Lucy left a clone in her place before she walked back to Kakashi's place. The clone would let her know if she needed to go back and Lucy left enough chakra in it to do anything up to an A-rank jutsu.

 **Time Skip**

The next morning Lucy decided to walk Naruto to the Hokage's office in order for him to get his Genin ID, considering what happened last night she figured that if he felt like talking to her about it he would which he did but he didn't tell her anything about the Nine-tails. When they got their Naruto wasn't wearing his ninja headband and he had face paint all over himself. Lucy sighed and didn't even bother trying to convince him not to do it, he'll grow out of his pranks one day.

"Retake it," was all Lord Hokage said as he looked at Naruto's profile picture,

"Hey that took forever for me to get it right old man," Naruto complained and Lucy zoned out of the argument, not seeing a point in listening to the two of them bicker. It wasn't until the door slammed open that Lucy shook herself from her thoughts,

"I got you now an old man," yelled out a little kid with an overly long blue scarf, that the boy proceeded to trip over. The Hokage tilted his hat a little to cover his face from the embarrassment shown, the boy suddenly sat up as someone else came through the door, he had on black glasses and a black shirt, "Oh I get it, you trapped the place right old man?" The boy said with a slight smirk on his face,

"Honourable grandson are you alright?" Asked the unknown guy while he pushed up his glasses, "and there are no traps in here," he continued,

"Who's the kid meant to be?" Naruto drawled out,

"Hey, you tripped me just now didn't you?" The boy accuses Naruto and Naruto lifts him up by his scarf,

"You tripped on your own squirt," he growled at the boy,

"Naruto, unhand him don't you know that he is Lord Thirds Honourable Grandson?" The guy that came in after the small boy yelled out, you could tell that he had malice laced within his voice and Naruto just looked at him with a blank expression before turning back to the kid,

"Hit me I dare you," the kid growled out, he looked frustrated, almost like he wanted Naruto to hit him,

"As I care about who he's related to," Naruto yelled out as he hit the kid on the head. After that both Lucy and Naruto left the Hokage tower, Naruto was grumbling about the Hokages grandson and Lucy was silently nodding along. Suddenly Naruto turned around and pointed at the poorly hidden boy, "quit following me," he shouted frustrated and Lucy was quietly giggling at how the Hokages grandson suddenly wanted to be Naruto's student,

"Teach me your Sexy jutsu, so I can defeat the old man," yelled out the newly identified Konohamaru,

"And that's my cue to leave, I'll see you later Naruto," Lucy suddenly announced and turned to walk away,

"Wait," a small voice shouted and Lucy turned towards Konohamaru,

"Umm yes?" She inquired,

"What's your name?"

"Lucy Heartfilia," she replied proudly, Konohamaru suddenly turned slightly red before giggling and Lucy looked at him confused,

"I've decided, that when I grow up I'm going to marry you," he announced,

"Ehh?" Both Lucy and Naruto yelled,

"Oh no you won't," Naruto yelled and hit Konohamaru on the head again, Lucy turned back around with a slight blush on her face,

"Okay I'm gonna go, have to fun you two," she called behind her as she made her escape.

 **Time Skip**

It was the next day and everyone that passed the Genin exams were waiting to be split into teams. Lucy was sitting in her usual spot next to Sasuke and Naruto was seated to her right, after Naruto shared some words with Shikamaru the classroom door got slammed open, "I got here first Ino-pig," Sakura yelled as she tried to push her way into the classroom,

"I obviously won, billboard brow," Said another obnoxious voice of a certain bleached blonde,

"No way my toe was obviously a quarter of an inch in front of yours," Sakura continued as they both pushed their faces together and glared at one another,

"Oh great here we go again," Lucy muttered as she rolled her eyes, those two act a lot like Natsu and Gray except for the fact that they used to be best of friends and then let a boy get in between them, Natsu and Gray were more like rivals that watched each other back. Lucy was hoping to get Naruto and Sasuke to act like that sooner or later.

Sakura got up to their table first and Naruto started to say hello to her, "get out of the way Naruto," she yelled at him and pushed him onto the floor before putting on a sweet smile, "hi Sasuke is anyone sitting next to you?" She asked him, completely ignoring Lucy's presence. Lucy got out of the chair and stepped beside Naruto,

"Are you okay?" She asked him as she helped him up and he nodded before jumping onto the desk and glared at Sasuke,

"Naruto, what are you doing to Sasuke," Sakura screeched at him,

"Naruto get off of the table, Sasuke don't provoke him," Lucy scolded the both of them and before Naruto could get off of the table the person sitting in front of Sasuke elbowed Naruto and pushed him into Sasuke, face first. "Oh dear," Lucy sighed before she walked closer and saw Naruto and Sasuke were kissing. Lucy turned around and placed a hand on the desk, her shoulders had begun to shake and she brought a hand up to her mouth.

"I'm gonna kill you Naruto," Sasuke ground put as he coughed and wiped his mouth, he then looked over and saw Lucy with her back turned and her shoulders shaking, "Hmm, Lucy? Are you okay?" He asked her but she shoulder just began to shake more violently, "y-you know, that, that thing before was just an acci," he was suddenly cut off by her laughing out loud,

"That was the best thing I've ever seen," she spluttered out and Sasuke got a tick mark on his head before he turned around in his seat so that she couldn't see that he was embarrassed and determined to ignore her for the rest of the day, "awe come on Sasuke I didn't mean to make you mad," Lucy tried to say but she kept choking on her own laughs, Sasuke just clenched his jaw and ignored her. Turning back to Naruto who was now shielding his face from Sasuke's fangirls she started to talk, "Alright girls, no need to take this out on Naruto, in fact, you should be thanking him," Lucy said and they all turned towards her,

"What are you talking about blondie," One of them yelled angrily,

"Well since Sasuke just locked lips with Naruto, maybe he wants one of you girls to help wash his mouth off if you know what I mean," she said slyly and Sasuke suddenly turned to glower at her with an evil eye, all of the fangirls started to squeal,

"Pick me Sasuke," they all yelled and they all started to fight over who should 'help' Sasuke.

 **The Hokages office**

After the Jonins and Hokage had assessed the brand new Genin they all continued to watch the events of the classroom play out. To say that they were amused by the way Lucy handled situations within the classroom was an understatement.

"Well, that's one way to stop violence I guess," Kurenai giggled as she looked into the chakra filled crystal ball with the rest of the Jonin instructors. Meanwhile, Kakashi was lazily reading his book and internally sweatdropping,

"Yes, it seems that young Lucy has a way of dealing with the last Uchiha boy and Naruto, they listen to her and respect her," the Hokage explained, "it's remarkable considering how much hate Sasuke Uchiha seems to have for everyone around him, Lucy being the only exception. Naruto seems to have attached himself to Lucy as well, relies on her for things he won't with anyone else," Lord Hokage continued and the Jonin instructors looked on at how Lucy interacted with those two boys in particular.

 **At the Academy**

"Okay I will now be splitting you up into teams of three, afterwards you will wait here for your Jonin instructors," Iruka called out and Lucy zoned out, she didn't need to be here for this. It wasn't like she was going to be placed onto a team, she wasn't even going to be continuing helping out at the academy next year. Lucy missed being a part of a team, she just got lonely on her missions, nowadays.

"Lucy Heartfilia," Iruka called out and Lucy snapped out of it,

"What did I miss?" She asked innocently, Iruka sighed,

"You are going to be a co-sensei for some of the new Genin teams, team 10, team 8 and team 7 in particular, now everyone off to lunch," Iruka said and Lucy walked out to eat in confusion. _'Lord Hokage never mentioned her being a co-sensei, maybe it was a last minute thing.'_ Lucy thought to herself as she sat down to eat. Across from where she was sitting, she saw what looked to be Sasuke walks up to Sakura, "I should probably go talk to Lord Hokage," she whispered to herself as she finished eating and stood up, "I wonder why Naruto was transformed to look like Sasuke," she continued to think out loud as she made her way to the Hokage tower.

 **Time skip (sorry there are a lot of these this chapter)**

After Lucy had spoken to the Hokage she went to greet teams 7, 8 and 10. Team 10 was first, with Asuma, Choji, Ino and Shikamaru, Ino obviously wasn't happy about the arrangement and tried to show her up which lead to Asuma scolding her. Choji and Shikamaru didn't mind at all, in fact, Choji was excited to work with and Shikamaru just expected it as usual.

Next was Team 8, with Kurenai, Shino, Hinata and Kiba, Hinata was ecstatic about the possibility of working with Lucy more and improving, Kiba looked mischievously at Lucy and started to flirt with and Shino was quiet as always but gave her a nod of recognition.

However, when Lucy went to greet Team 7, they weren't there. She found then in the classroom still, Naruto was setting up a prank on the door and Sakura was yelling at him, Sasuke was looking out of the window as usual. "Why aren't you three with your sensei?" She asked then from her place on the window sill that she had just climbed through,

"Lucy, he's late, you know," Naruto yelled, "So I've set a trap as punishment," Lucy sweatdropped at his proud look,

"What are you doing here?" Sakura asked snobbishly,

"I'm your co-sensei remember? I just finished meeting the other teams, yours is the last one," Lucy explained, deciding to ignore Sakura's tone,

"Hmm, that's never going to work idiot, he's a Jonin," Sasuke grumbled and Sakura jumped to agree with him even is she looked a little disappointed,

"How long have you been waiting?" Lucy asked them,

"Three hours, you know," Naruto shouted and Lucy sighed,

"I think I know who your sensei is and if I'm right then Naruto's trap will work. More or less," she whispered to last part, Naruto looked at his trap with pride and Sasuke just looked annoyed that Lucy took the knuckleheads side once again. The door slid open and the chalkboard eraser fell and hit a head of grey, spiky hair, letting out a puff of chalk dust upon impact.

"Alright I gotcha," Naruto laughed out as he pointed towards Kakashi who looked at the three students,

"I'm so sorry sensei, I tried to tell him not to do it," Sakura said in a sickly sweet tone, _'cha, perfect shot,'_ she thought to herself as she kept the act up. Sasuke was still sitting at the table that Lucy was leaning against and looked at the Jonin in disappointment,

"How do I put this, based off of my first impression I'd have to say that, I hate you three," Kakashi said plainly and you could just see the depression lines rolling off of them, "Let's go to the roof," he said and poofed away, Lucy quickly followed behind him, "So you're a co-sensei?" Kakashi inquired as he started reading his book,

"Seems that way, Lord Hokage said that it's mainly to keep an eye on Naruto and Sasuke, make sure they don't cause trouble if you know what I mean," she said,

"I see," was his vague reply, _'She's taken to calling him Lord Hokage now instead of just third or Hokage, does this mean that he's won back her trust after that first mission she took?'_ Kakashi thought to himself as he kept sneaking glances at Lucy, _'because of all the missions I've been taking we haven't spent a lot of time together and when we do it's like she's walking on eggshells around me,'_ he continued with a frown but shook the thought away as his new team walked through the door to the roof.

"Alright, now that everyone's here we can begin. Why don't you introduce yourselves?" Kakashi said as he put his book away,

"Introduce ourselves, how?" Sakura asked,

"Your name, likes, what you hate most and your dreams, hobbies things like that," Kakashi said lazily almost in annoyance,

"Why don't you go first Sensei, you seem kind of suspicious," Naruto said loudly,

"Me? I'm Kakashi Hatake, I don't really feel like telling you my likes and dislikes, my dream for the future is none of your business and I have a lot of hobbies," Kakashi vaguely explained. Lucy rubbed the bridge of her nose at his answer,

"All he did was tell us his name," Sakura whispered loudly,

"Alright your turn, the one in orange, you go first," Kakashi said and Naruto looked at him excitedly, the first second he mentioned ramen Lucy tuned him out. She's heard this speech a thousand times before and she has a pretty good guess about what the other two will say.

"Lucy," Kakashi called out to her and she turned to them in surprise, "it's your turn to introduce yourself,"

"Alright, I'm Lucy Heartfilia, my likes are strawberries and reading, I hate cruelty and anyone who tries to hurt any of my friends, my dream for the future," at this point she looked down and smiled sadly, "my dream is to see some important people from my past one day," Lucy said and looked up with a closed-eyed smile, "my hobbies, I suppose writing," she finished sheepishly and blushed in embarrassment. Kakashi was staring intently at Lucy before giving a closed-eyed smile,

"Alright good, each one of you is different. Anyway, survival training begins tomorrow," Kakashi said monotonously,

"Survival training but we did that at the academy Sensei," Sakura said,

"This survival training is different, your opponents will be me and Lucy," Kakashi said and Lucy started to pay extra attention,

"What makes it so different?" Naruto asked and Kakashi started laughing,

"What's so funny sensei," Sakura inquired,

"It's nothing, if I told you, you'd get scared," he said smugly,

"Why?" Naruto questions, Sasuke was silently thinking of what Kakashi could have up his sleeve and Lucy was sweatdropping at his theatrics,

"Of the twenty-seven students of your graduating class only nine of them will be accepted as Genin level ninja, the other eighteen will have to go back for more training. This test has a 66% rate of failure," Kakashi said gravely, Lucy could tell that he was enjoying this too much. All three of them looked shocked, even Sasuke if you looked close enough you can see that his eyes slightly widened but otherwise his facial features remain unchanged, "see you guys are scared right?" Lucy sighed as Kakashi continued to scare them and she ended up tuning out, "Lucy, time for us to leave," Kakashi called out as he finished explaining to the other three,

"Lucy, why are you going with him?" Naruto blurted out and Sasuke sighed,

"Idiot, he's obviously her guardian, haven't you ever seen him hover over her before?" he explained and that was all Lucy heard before Kakashi grabbed her and teleportation to his place.

"Did you really have to scare them like that?" Lucy asked she got herself a drink from the kitchen,

"Yes, I want to keep them on edge for tomorrow," Kakashi said, "by the way, this is what I have planned for the test," Kakashi started to explain and Lucy nodded her head and made some suggestions where she could.

"Now that that's settled I'm going to go talk to the other Jonin instructors about what they have planned," Lucy said and quickly left the house. Kakashi stared after her a little disappointed, for a second he thought that she was acting normally but it seems that she was just trying to get out of the house. Sighing he went into the living room and started reading his book again.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy and Kakashi both showed up at the training grounds late,

"You're both late," Sakura and Naruto yelled together as soon as they saw their two senses. Lucy smiled sheepishly and Kakashi ignored them and started to explain what was going to happen,

"Alright, I've set this alarm clock to go off at noon," Kakashi said as he placed the clock that he was holding onto a tree stump,

"Hey that's mine," Lucy yelled at him,

"It's not like you need it," he said simply before continuing on, determined to ignore Lucy's piercing eyes as she glared at him, "here I have two bells, your job is to steal them from me before noon," as Kakashi held up two very familiar bells the Genin grew confused, "anyone who fails, doesn't get to have any lunch and will be tied to the tree stump and you'll have to watch me eat your lunch in front of you," he continued and the three Genin had looks of annoyance on heir's faces as their stomachs growled and they understood why he told them not to eat.

"You have to get one bell each so one of you is guaranteed to be tied to the stump and fail, if you fail you'll have to go back to the academy," Kakashi said seriously and the Genin gulped at his words and looked even more determined, Lucy looked slightly disappointed at this.

Just by looking at then she knew that they wouldn't work together to get the bells, they were so focused on themselves that they aren't even thinking about how to actually retrieve the bells, "You can use any means necessary to get the bells, I will have one and Lucy will have the other, however you will have to aim to kill us or you won't stand a chance," Kakashi said gravely and at this Lucy smiled and nodded her head to agree with him,

"But sensei that's too dangerous," Sakura said startled and looked worried, Lucy frowned at her words. Didn't she know that being a shinobi was dangerous? Why be one if you're too afraid of getting hurt?

"She's right, especially since you couldn't even dodge an eraser," Naruto said obnoxiously,

"Loudmouths and class clowns are usually all talks, all bark and no bite," Kakashi said trying to provoke him and it worked like a charm. Naruto took out a kunai and tried to attack Kakashi but before he could even take a step Kakashi appeared behind him and held his head forwards with one hand and lock his arm around his back and pointed the kunai he was holding at his own head, "Not so fast, I didn't even get the chance to say start yet," he said casually and Sakura and Sasuke took a step back cautiously.

Lucy, however, looked calm, she was trained enough to see Kakashi's movements and follow him with her eyes, however, she still has a long way to go before she can move her body at that level. There's only so much a young body could do, no matter how much you train. "Well, at least you aimed to kill so I guess you've started to respect me," Kakashi said as he laughed slightly, "So maybe I'm starting to like you three. Ready, begin," he said and then he disappeared and Lucy jumped and transformed herself into a bird.


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: Hey everyone! I'm sorry about the chapter confusion lately, I accidently uploaded the wrong file for chapter 14. Chapter 14 has been changed for anyone who wants to go back and read it! Chapter 15 stays the same. Thank you for pointing it out to me, again I'm so sorry about that and I hope you continue to read and enjoy this story. Here's the next chapter, I wasn't going to post it this early but I figured it would make up for the confusion.**

Lucy was up high in the sky watching the events down below while waiting for her cue to make her appearance. Kakashi was looking around and assessing the Genins. _'Ninja must know how to conceal their presence and hide accordingly,'_ he thought to himself as he looked around, _'well they seem to understand that, they've hidden well. All except for, '_ Kakashi's thoughts trailed off as he got interrupted by an obnoxious, knuckleheaded ninja,

"You and me right now, fair and square let's go," Naruto yelled out as he stood proudly on a rock and crossed his arms,

"Why does lucy hang around you again? You're kind of weird, " Kakashi said plainly and riled Naruto up even more,

"The only thing weird here is your haircut, " Naruto shouted in frustration and started running towards Kakashi but stopped when Kakashi started to look through his ninja pouch,

"Alright let me show you the first shinobi fighting style, taijutsu, " Kakashi said and Naruto began to look confused. Kakashi suddenly pulled out a book from his pouch and opened it up, Lucy had a tick mark on her forehead at the title of the book, "what? I thought you were going to attack," Kakashi said as he began to read his book and noticed that Naruto didn't move,

"B-but why are you reading?" Naruto asked confused,

"It won't make a difference to me in the slightest considering whom I'm up against, besides I've been wanting to find out how this one ends, " Kakashi aggravated Naruto and as Kakashi predicted Naruto got mad,

"I'm going to crush you, " Naruto yelled out as he attempted to hit Kakashi. Kakashi blocked him without looking up from his book and squatted down as Naruto turned around and tried to kick him in the head, landing on the ground and quickly pushing off again Naruto tries to punch him once more but he had to stop when he realised that he had only hit the air.

"You shouldn't let your enemy get behind you," Kakashi said and held his hands in the tiger sign. Squatting behind Naruto with a bored look on his face,

"Naruto move, or else you'll be killed, " Sakura suddenly yelled out from her hiding spot in the bushes,

"It's too late," Kakashi said gravely, "the leaf villages most secret, hidden jutsu, " Kakashi said and starting to move his hands, "one thousand years of death, " he yelled and poked Naruto right up his butt and used so much force that it pushed him off of the ground and sent him flying through the air. As Sakura blushed slightly and deadpanned, Sasuke grew irritated and Lucy was relieved that it wasn't an actual ninjutsu that Kakashi had used, Naruto's screams filled the air and he landed in the river that was beside the training grounds.

"Those two are idiots, " Sasuke whispered,

"How is that a secret technique?" Sakura groundout. As Lucy watched from above she saw that Kakashi was once again reading his perverted book while blushing and she sighed in exasperation. Two shurikens suddenly launched out of the river and without looking grabbed them as they got closer to him. Naruto made his appearance by crawling out of the river, as he was coughing up water Kakashi started mocking him again,

"Well, come on then, if you don't grab a bell by noon you won't get to have lunch, "

"You think I don't know that, " Naruto shouted back at him,

"You say you want to be Hokage but you're already tired aren't you, not to mention hungry," Kakashi continued to mock,

"I can still beat you, it doesn't matter if I'm hungry, " Naruto ground out as his and two other stomachs grumbled, "I just wasn't ready, "

"Then get ready, those with a prepared mind have the advantage after all, " Kakashi as he turned and started to walk away, Naruto suddenly got a thoughtful look on his face before it turned into one of determination that Lucy is so familiar with. Hearing a splash in the water Lucy looked over to see that almost a dozen Naruto's had jumped out of the river and started running at Kakashi. Kakashi looked over slightly surprised but Lucy could tell that it wasn't genuine,

"My special technique, multi-shadow clone jutsu, " Naruto yelled out, "think you can take all of us on?"

 _'Well, now it's getting interesting, '_ Lucy thought to herself as she saw Naruto starting to use his ramen filled head for once,

"At your level though, you couldn't keep this up for very long. In the end you're all talk," Kakashi said to him before looking behind himself in surprise. Naruto had managed to jump onto his back,

"You shouldn't let your enemies get behind you, Sensei, " Naruto mocked, "you see, I made one of my clones distract you while I circled around behind you, this is payback for before, " Naruto continued and one if his clones ran at Kakashi ready to punch him but Kakashi was starting to look bored. As soon as Naruto's clone pulled his arm back, Kakashi performed the substitution jutsu and switched places with one of Naruto's clones. Naruto ended up punching himself and Lucy sighed in slight disappointment, she swooped down to where Kakashi had teleported to behind a tree where all three genins were visible.

"Do you have to mess with him like that?" Lucy quietly asked as she transformed back into herself,

"A ninja should see through deceit, " Kakashi replied simply,

"Yes, I know that but is messing with them really teaching them?" Lucy questioned,

"Maybe, are you ready?" Kakashi said changing the subject,

"Okay, okay I'm going, " she huffed at him and jumped into the trees making her way towards Sasuke. Meanwhile, Naruto had just dropped his multi-shadow clone jutsu.

"You should really keep your guard up, you have more than one opponent you know, " she whispered Sasuke's ear and moved back as he swiped at her with a kunai, "you need to pay more attention to your surroundings, observing only one opponent won't do you any good if the other catches you, " Lucy said tauntingly, the bell on her hip rung in the wind and Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her. Lucy heard Naruto yell from where she was standing and looked over to see his hanging upside down from a tree branch by a rope, "well him using his head didn't last very long, " she said to herself, as Kakashi showed up and started to mock Naruto yet again Sasuke went back to observing them, "well Naruto may be a dunce but he has guts and determination, I think given the right tools and teaching methods he'll be a better ninja than you, " Lucy said mockingly, her aim was to rile Sasuke up enough for him to go after Kakashi, "but I suppose sitting here and observing your enemy and teammates is really getting the job done," as soon as she finished saying this though Sasuke through a handful of kunai in Kakashi's direction, just before they made contact, Kakashi used the substitution jutsu once more, surprising both Naruto and Sasuke, Sasuke turned back to lucy only to find that she was no longer there and had figured out that she had said that on purpose.

 _'Damm, he acted off guard on purpose and Lucy goaded me into giving away my location, I acted like an a mature, '_ Sasuke thought to himself as he quickly moved into another tree,

 _'There you are, '_ Kakashi thought as he looked through an opening in a bush,

"You didn't get hit did you?" Lucy asked him slightly concerned as she crouched behind him, Kakashi turned his head to look at her from the corner of his eye,

"Of course not, " was all he said and he sent a clone out into an opening that he knew Sakura was heading towards,

 _'Gee the last time I worry about you then, '_ Lucy thought sarcastically and sighed heavily before she jumped into a tree that overlooked the area.

Sakura was running through the forest trying to locate Sasuke after he had run off, _'where'd you go, did you get caught by Kakashi-Sensei? No way, not my Sasuke, '_ Sakura thought as she continued running but stopped and crouched behind a bush as she saw Kakashi standing in a clearing, _'okay I'm safe, he didn't see me,'_ She thought to herself,

"Sakura behind you, " she heard a voice loudly whisper from behind her and she turned in surprise to see Kakashi staring at her boredly with his one visible eye, Kakashi made the rat hand sign and locked Sakura in a genjutsu.

"What's happening, where is everyone?" Sakura started to freak out,

"Sakura, " she heard a very familiar voice call out to her and she turned around excitedly to see Sasuke, kneeling on the ground with Kunai sticking out of him and had blood running down from his wounds, "Sakura, help me, " he asked out and Sakura began shaking, she got tears in her eyes and she screamed before passing out,

"Shinobi battle skills lesson two, Genjutsu, perhaps that was taking it a bit too far though, " Kakashi started as he continued to read,

"Gee, you think?" Lucy asked rhetorically,

"You are immune to genjustu, you don't know what I made her see, " Kakashi pointed out and Lucy gave him her 'know-it-all' look, something she got from hanging out with Levy so much, FairyTails resident bookworm.

"Perhaps not but I do know you and I know everything you know about Sakura so in order to get a reaction like that I'd say it would have someone to do with Sasuke getting hurt or perhaps being rejected by him but because she passed out I'm going to stick with the first one, " she said and Kakashi sweatdropped at her accurate assumption before going back to his book.

Meanwhile, Naruto had gotten down from the rope trap and had gotten stuck again by a second one and Sasuke had turned towards Sakura's screams and ran in that direction towards Kakashi, so far not one of them had attempted to take a bell from Lucy.

"He might have beaten Sakura but I'm not like the others, " Sasuke said,

"Save it until you've actually gotten a bell, " both Kakashi and Lucy said from the tree that they were leaning against, well the tree Kakashi was leaning against, Lucy was leaning against Kakashi trying to take his book from him but he just kept slapping her hands away. Sasuke sweatdropped at how the two of them interact with one another but didn't waste any more time and threw kunai at the two of them to split them up, Lucy jumped in the air as she watched them fight and began to grow bored with them going back and forth. So Lucy decided to drill underground and end the fight quickly,

"Earth style: Headhunter jutsu, " Lucy yelled out and grabbed onto Sasuke's ankle and pulled him underground, only leaving his head uncovered. Jumping up above ground level Lucy was now squatting in front of Sasuke, "I warned you to keep an eye on the both of us, " she said in a sickeningly sweet voice, Sasuke only glared at her as a response,

"Shinobi battle skills lesson three ninjutsu, " Kakashi said as he squatted beside Lucy like it was planned all along for Lucy to cut their fight short, "as you said you are different from your comrades, " Kakashi said as he and Lucy stood up and started to walk away,

"But different doesn't always mean better, " Lucy finished his sentence as they continued to walk towards where Naruto was heading. Naruto was had just made it to the stumps when Lucy and Kakashi caught up with him,

"Man I can't fight while I'm hungry, so I'll just eat everyone's lunches to gather strength and try again," he said laughing deviously,

"Ahem, " both Lucy and Kakashi coughed from above him on top of the stumps,

"Just kidding," Naruto said trying to save himself,

"Too late, " Lucy laughed at him, while Kakashi was tieing up Naruto Lucy went back to check on Sasuke but saw Sakura show up,

"Ahh no Sasuke, you're head," she yelled out before fainting again,

"What was that about?" Sasuke said grouchily,

"She'll never change, " Lucy said as came into the clearing laughing at the Genins,

"Hmm, " was all Sasuke said,

"Aww, are you pouting?" Lucy mocked him as she leaned over him from his place in the ground, "don't tell me you're gonna give up?" she asked him standing back up to her full height,

"No, I'm the only one, " at this Lucy raised her eyebrows, "I'm the only one who can kill him, all I care about is my revenge," he said in a dark tone and at that moment Sakura woke up,

"Oh Sasuke you're alive," she yelled and glomped him as he pulled himself out of the ground,

"Okay now get off of me, " he said and pushed her away. Lucy still looked at him with sorrow laced in her eyes,

"Is that really all you care about? Revenge? What about the village or anyone in it?" Lucy asked him and Sakura looked surprised to see her standing there having not noticed before,

"My only goal is revenge, I have to become stronger than he is now, " Sasuke continued and Lucy sighed. Sakura, however, looked surprised and a little scared. Sasuke took on a fighting stance and was about to run at Lucy when the alarm clock started ringing, "damn it, I talked for too long, " Sasuke grumbled and they all started walking back towards the tree stumps. Lucy looked slightly disappointed with them because they didn't understand the exercise,

"Well it seems like some people are hungry, " Kakashi mocked at the three Genin sitting in front of him and Lucy, "now I have an announcement to make, " at this, the Genin looked up at them,

"Yes it seems that none of you needs to worry about getting sent back to the academy, " Lucy said sarcasm was lightly laced in her voice and Kakashi gave her a look. Sakura and Naruto started to celebrate while Sasuke smirked from his place on the ground,

"So that means that the three of us?" Naruto questions and Kakashi gave a closed-eyed smile,

"Yes, the three of you should just quit being ninjas, " he said and all three of them looked at him in shock and anger,

"What do you mean, quit being a ninja?" Naruto yelled out in anger, "so maybe we didn't get a bell but why do we have to quit?"

"Because you don't have what it takes, " Lucy said sternly, her face serious. Despite the fact that she was internally crying at the fact that she was saying these words. Sasuke started running at them in a fit of rage and Kakashi grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back pushing him onto the ground face first and sat on his back. With his foot resting on Sasuke's head, Kakashi started to talk again,

"You're just a bunch of spoiled brats, "

"Don't step on Sasuke like he's some type of bug, " Sakura screeched and Lucy winced at the sheer volume of it,

"Are you trying to make fun of the shinobi with your actions?" Kakashi spoke in a serious tone,

"Did you ever stop to think why you were divided into teams?" Lucy asked them with an equally serious tone,

"Obviously not so you missed the entire point of the exercise, " Kakashi finished, all three of them looked confused,

"W-what do you mean?" Sakura questioned and Lucy was beginning to get irritated, not just at Sakura but at Naruto and Sasuke as well,

"The exercise had a point?" Naruto asked nervously,

"Of course, it determined whether you passed or not, " Kakashi said,

"But what is it?" Sakura asked quietly,

"Honestly are you three so stupid that you can't use your heads?" Lucy growled at them and they were all taken by surprise at her tone. Lucy had always been patient with them in the academy, they had never seen her truly angry before,

"Calm down Lucy, " Kakashi whispered to her and she went to stand behind him, she turned to face the opposite direction or the Genin and stuck her nose in the air, "its teamwork, " Kakashi said louder this time and all three Genin looked confused, "if the three of you had come at us together you might have been able to take at least one of the bells, " Kakashi explained,

"But wait, there are only two bells, why purposely put us against each other if the whole point was to work together?" Sakura yelled out,

"Of course it was, why to give the answer to you on a silver platter, you're not in the academy anymore. This test was designed to see which of you would put aside your individual interests and propose to work together, as Genin it should be natural to work as a team, " Lucy explained harshly, she was tired of watching those three selfishly put their own needs before others,

"Lucy's right, it should be instinctive for you to work together, instead though. Sakura you ignored Naruto who was right in front of you and only focused on Sasuke even though you didn't know where he was, Naruto tried to do everything on his own even though his teammates were right there and Sasuke had already decided that the others would just get in the way, " Kakashi explained, still sitting on Sasuke's back,

"You are a team, you should learn to act like one. Individual skills are necessary but what's most important to a shinobi is teamwork, if you decide something on your own its bad for your team. It exposes your comrades to unnecessary dangers, " Lucy explained, calming down a bit and started to lean against Kakashi who paid no mind to it, only nodded at her words,

"Yes, you may as well kill your comrades yourself, for example. Sakura kill Naruto or Sasuke dies," Kakashi said and held up a kunai to Sasuke's neck, all three of them tensed,

"What, wait," Naruto said panicked and he looked around trying to escape from the post he was tied too. Kakashi got off of Sasuke,

"There may be a day where you have to make such a choice, as shinobi you put your life on the line every day, " he said as he walked a little ways away from Lucy following him, he stopped in front of a stone, "look at this stone and all of the names that are carved into it," Kakashi said in a distracted voice. Lucy knew that he had a lot of friends names carved into that stone so she let him do the talking, "heroes of our village, Ninja, "

"I want to get my name on that stone as well, I want to be a hero of the village," at this Lucy looked down and grabbed Kakashi's hand. Kakashi looked down at her but didn't remove her hand from his and continued,

"The people listed here aren't just any kind of hero Naruto," he said in a grave voice,

"What kind of hero are they? Well, tell us?" Naruto exclaimed excitedly,

"The KIA kind, they were all killed in action," Kakashi finished and Naruto looked down in regret, Sakura looked sad and Sasuke just tensed up, "this is the memorial stone, it includes the names of my best friends not to mention my old sensei, "

"Pay attention you three, we'll give you one last chance to pass, " Lucy said when she noticed that Kakashi was lost in thought,

"This one will be much more difficult than the last, " Kakashi said once Lucy snapped him out of his trance, "if you want to continue you may eat one of the lunches, but don't feed Naruto, " Kakashi said and Naruto started to complain,

"It's your own fault Naruto, you shouldn't have tried to take lunch for yourself earlier, " Lucy stated,

"If you feed him you'll immediately fail. My word is law, don't forget that, " Kakashi said sternly and gave them one of his famous glares, one that even scared Lucy sometimes. Kakashi teleported both Lucy and himself into the tree line, far enough away so that the Genin couldn't see them but close enough that their dojustus could make out what they were doing,

"Dp you think they understand?" Lucy asked him in a whisper,

"Only time will tell," he said back to her, "Hey Lucy, are you okay?" he asked her suddenly and Lucy turned to him in confusion,

"Of course, why do you ask?"

"Well it's just that lately," he began but got cut off by Lucy,

"Hey look at that," she said, she was looking to where the Genin were with her dojutsu activated. Kakashi looked over and uncovered his Sharingan, Sasuke was holding up his lunch for Naruto to eat and Sakura had reluctantly done the same, "so do you want to make to lightening appear or should I?" she asked him in amusement,

"You do it, they're a lot more scared of me so I'll confront them while you perform the jutsu, " he said and teleported over to them, "you, " Lucy heard him yell and it took everything in her to keep from laughing when she heard Sakura scream while she made lightening appear behind Kakashi,

"Wait we pass?" she head Sakura exclaim and Lucy took it as her cue to come out from hiding,

"That's right, congrats you guys," Lucy said excitingly as Kakashi began to explain why he passed them,

"Leta go home, " Kakashi said after he finished explaining and everyone began to follow him out of the training grounds, well almost everyone,

"Hey, wait, you guys forgot to untie me," Lucy faintly heard in the background and she giggled to herself,

"You're not going to go get him?" Kakashi asked her and it caught the attention of both Sakura and Sasuke,

"Nope, he should have been paying attention when Iruka went over the un-tieing jutsu at the academy," Lucy said while shaking her head. Sasuke smirked at her response while Kakashi just pats her head and they all continued walking.

 **Time Skip**

A few days later Lucy was working with the Ino-Shika-Cho unit and helping them with their trapping techniques when they had taken their test they had only been able to trap Asuma for a few seconds before Lucy made them lose concentration but throwing kunai at them from a distance. Currently, Lucy and Asuma wanted to improve on the skills that they already had considering that it was going to be their best asset but Ino wouldn't listen to any of Lucy's suggestions and it was annoying the rest of the group,

"What would you know about my clan's secret techniques?" Ino finally yelled out, she was frustrated at Lucy for trying to make her look bad in front of her new team.

"Actually quite a bit, I know what its like to be put under one of your clan's secret techniques and I have to say that it's quite remarkable. However, I'm also naturally able to resist the jutsu if I want to which makes me the perfect person to practice on. You manage to trap me forcefully then it'll be less likely for someone else to escape it, " Lucy said calmly even though she was internally screaming in frustration. Just as Ino was about to go on another tangent Lucy looked up and saw that she was being summoned by the Hokage, "look I have to go, at least take your training seriously for once Ino, " and with that Lucy teleported into the Hokage's office.

"You wished to see me?" Lucy questioned as she appeared beside Kakashi who was with the rest of team 7,

"Ah yes, Lucy team 7 is going to be taking their first C-ranked escort mission and I would like for you to go with them as an extra precaution, " the Hokage explained to her and Naruto had managed to latch onto her while her attention was on the Hokage,

"Of course, " she turned to Kakashi, "give me a rundown?" she asked him and he nodded before Lord Hokage asked the client to come in,

"How is a bunch of snot-nosed brats supposed to protect me," said a drunken old man and Lucy internally cringed but kept up her businesswoman smile, one that Kakashi knew well. "Especially the little blonde girl and the dense looking midget, " the client continues and Lucy still kept her business smile on her face but Naruto started to lose his composure,

"You can't kill the person you're meant to be protecting," Kakashi said as he held Naruto back,

"Huh, what's with you girl? Why are you smiling like that?" the client slurred out as he finished his bottle of alcohol,

"Oh it's nothing, I just had an amusing thought is all," Lucy replied,

"Whatever, look I'm an expert bridge builder and I expect you to protect me with your lives, " he added and Lucy giggled, "huh what's with you little girl?" he hiccupped,

"It's just since we are really only kids, your protection isn't going to last very long, especially with that attitude, it'll make us even less motivated to ensure your safety. Children usually require motivation you know, " Lucy said slyly and Sasuke smirked at what she was saying, making the bridge builder slightly regret his words, however, he didn't show it, only opened up another bottle of alcohol. Kakashi sweatdropped at her words, he knew that she was planting a seed of paranoia into their client so he would be panicking on their way to the wave country. As everyone was beginning to leave Lucy looked towards Naruto with squinted eyes, "Naruto, why do you have scratches all over you?" she asked him and Naruto got a tick mark on his head and started muttering about a 'stupid cat'.

 **Time Skip**

"All right road trip, " Naruto yelled in excitement and Sakura hit him on the head and told him to shut up, "but it's the first time I've been out of the village, "

"Am I really expected to leave my life in the hands of this kid?" The drunken client Tazuna said,

"Don't worry I'm an experienced Jonin and I know it may not look like it but Lucy is also an experienced ninja, in my opinion, she's at a starter Jonin level, " Kakashi explained and pat Lucy on the head as he walked by her, she almost raised her head in pride, almost.

"Listen to me you old geezer, you don't mess with a ninja. Especially not a really strong one like me, I'm going to become Hokage one day so you better remember my name is Naruto Uzumaki, " Naruto yelled and it was at that exact point that Lucy stopped listening and raised her guard up because they were walking further away from the village. Normally Lucy wouldn't bother extending her chakra out into all of her sensors for a C-ranked mission but something was definitely off. The old drunk was too concerned about his life for a simple escort mission, from his clothes and the brand of his alcohol she's guessing that he doesn't have a lot of money, adding to the fact that he lives in the wave country which is currently going through a big economic crisis just added to her suspicions.

Lucy twisted her head in the direction that she smelt another scent and then turned back towards the group, she used her left hand to scratch her ear twice to signal Kakashi that they were being followed and he subtlely nodded his head in recognition. Not long after this Sakura asked a question,

"My Tazuna?" she squeaked out,

"What now?" he groaned out,

"You come from the land of waves right?"

"What of it?" he said in irritation,

"Um, Kakashi-Sensei, are there ninja in that country too?" she asked nervously,

"No, not in the land of waves, but as a general rule even with all the differences that exist in the local customs and cultures, most other lands have their own hidden villages where ninja clans reside, " Kakashi started,

"That's right you see, for most of the countries on this continent, the ninja villages serve as a type of military force. They protect their own people and land while keeping the bond ongoing with the neighbouring countries but the villages do not answer to the rulers of their native countries, instead, they are on equal footing with the government. In cases of smaller lands or villages where invasions would be difficult to mount there is no need for ninja villages or clans, " Lucy continued on for him,

"Among various ninja villages, in particular, those located in the leaf, sand, mist, stone and cloud are larger, therefore their strength is immense and they are called the five great lands of shinobi. They are also the only places where their leader calls themselves a Kage or shadow, " Kakashi continued on,

"There's the Hokage, 'fire shadow', Mizukage, 'water shadow', Raikage, 'lightning shadow', Kazekage, 'wind shadow', and Tsuchikage, 'earth shadow, ' the five leaders of the great nations, " Lucy finished off,

"Wow so Lord Hokage is really powerful huh?" Sakura gushed but you could tell it was fake by how high pitched her voice got. Naruto got a look of disbelief on his face,

"You guys just doubted Lord Hokage didn't you?" Kakashi asked them and they both tensed slightly, "anyways there's no need to worry, there's no chance of facing off against rivalling shinobi while on a C-rank mission," he continued and pat Sakura on the head,

"Really, so there's no chance of running into foreign shinobi?" Sakura asked happily,

"Of course not, " Lucy said smiling, taking notice of a puddle that they were walking past while Sasuke was looking at Tazuna suspiciously.

Suddenly chains wrapped around Kakashi, "what?" he shouted out and had a look of fake worry on his face, if Lucy didn't know any better she would have attacked right there.

"That's one," the masked shinobi whispered before pulling the chains and Kakashi got ripped apart,

"Kakashi, " Lucy shouted in fake worry before making her halberd appear, the two foreign shinobi made quick work of wrapping the chains around her as well and she quickly performed the substitution jutsu before they could rip her actual body apart. Lucy appeared beside Kakashi and slightly leaned against him to make sure that he was there. She may know what he was up to but that didn't mean she liked what she saw, apparently, neither did Kakashi because he put a hand on her head as they watched what was happening.

The foreign shinobi went after Naruto next but Sasuke jumped in, he jumped up and threw a shuriken at the swinging chains and locked one of them against a nearby tree, he quickly grabbed a kunai and there it into the middle of the shuriken to add support, he landed on the shinobi's arms. Leaning forward to rest his hands on their wrists and stretched his legs out to kick each shinobi in the face, as suspected the unknown shinobi used this to run around either side of the group, one of them aimed for Naruto and the other Tazuna. Sakura quickly jumped in front of Tazuna but as the shinobi got close Sasuke jumped in-between them.

Kakashi and Lucy both jumped down and grabbed both of the shinobi, Kakashi grabbed the one aiming for Tazuna and Lucy the one aiming for Naruto, Lucy slammed the shinobi to the ground using chakra and created a small crater, rendering the enemy shinobi unconscious. While Kakashi gripped the other by his neck so he could be questioned.

"I'm sorry Naruto I should have stepped in before you got hurt," Lucy said while she tied up the unconscious shinobi,

"We just didn't think you would freeze up like that, " Kakashi said to him, "nice work Sasuke, you too Sakura, " he continued,

"Yeah Sasuke that was nicely done I'm proud of you, same to you Sakura, " Lucy said smiling at the both of them. Sakura flushed slightly at the praise but then stuck her head up high and Sasuke just smirked before he turned to Naruto,

"Hey, are you okay? You big chicken," he said mockingly,

"Sasuke, don't brag its childish," Lucy scolded him and he turned with a huff, while Naruto got angry and glared at him and got into a fighting position,

"Now's, not the time Naruto, their claws were poisoned we have to get that wound cleaned as soon as possible," Kakashi said,

"Don't move around too much or the poison will spread Naruto, " Lucy said as she stood by Tazuna and Kakashi. She wasn't freaking out because she knew that Naruto had a little more time into the poison took effect thanks to the Nine-tails.

"Tazuna, I need to speak with you, " Kakashi said glaring slightly at the drunkard, "our attackers are chunin level ninja from the Mist, these two are famous for fighting until their goal is achieved, even at the cost of their own lives, " Kakashi explained as he tied the conscious one up next to the one Lucy knocked out, "they were watching and waiting for us, luckily, Lucy, had her guard up as soon as we left the village, "

"How did you know when we'd strike?" the mist ninja groaned out,

"A puddle in the middle of the day, when it hasn't rained for weeks? Real original, " Lucy said,

"If you both knew why'd you leave it up to the Genins?" Tazuna yelled out,

"Because we had to know who they were targeting, " Kakashi said and turned to Tazuna,

"What do you mean?" Tazuna asked back nervously, his voice breaking slightly, but then again that could just be the alcohol,

"Were they targeting you specifically or just us ninja?" Lucy continued in a cool tone, "there was no word of shinobi targeting you, "

"The request that Lord Hokage told me was that you wanted an escort to protect you against regular robbers and bandits, " Kakashi continued on, "in any case, this is clearly higher than a C-ranked mission maybe even higher than a B. To protect you from ordinary dangers until you complete the bridge would be a simple thing, "

"However, if you specified that shinobi were targeting you this would be classified as an elite ninja mission," Lucy finished explaining,

"We're not advanced enough for a mission like this, we're only Genin after all," Sakura said sheepishly, "we should turn back, besides Naruto's hurt, we should have his wound looked at," Sakura tried to make her case and get everyone to turn back,

"Don't worry about that part I'm," Lucy started but got cut off by Naruto taking a kunai a shoving into his own hand, everyone looked shocked except for Lucy, she just looked annoyed.

"I swear by this kunai, I will protect the old drunk," Naruto yelled out,

"Naruto that was cool and all but if you lose anymore blood you'll die," Kakashi stated bluntly and Naruto started to freak out, Lucy rolled her eyes and walked up to Naruto,

"Naruto did you forget that I'm a medic?" Lucy asked in an annoyed tone and Naruto stopped running around,

"Umm, oops?" He simply said and everyone sweatdropped. Lucy sighed and grabbed his hand only to see that it was already healing but added healing chakra to her hand anyway and placed it on top of Naruto's almost nonexistant wound,

"There, that should do it but I'll wrap it for you just in case. That area is going to be sensitive for awhile," Lucy explained as she wrapped his wound, she didn't actually have to heal anything she just made sure that the bleeding stopped.

"Um Mr Sensei, Sir?" Tazuna called out and both Kakashi and Lucy turned to look at him, "I have something I need to tell you."

They were all sitting comfortably in a boat that was slowly making its way to the land of waves, well almost, Lucy was sitting on Kakashi's lap since she's smallest and Sakura made a big deal about her sitting on Sasuke that she avoided it all together just to shut her up.

"I can't even see anything in this fog, it's so thick," Naruto exclaimed,

"We'll be able to see the bridge in a minute, just passed that is the Land of waves," Said the person steering the boat, Lucy had yet to get his name. After a minute the bridge came into view and Lucy was kind of impressed at how big it was, well she would be impressed if she didn't see magnolia being destroyed and repaired week after week.

"Wow it's huge," Naruto yelled out and got hit on the head by Sakura who was sitting behind him next to Sasuke,

"Keep it down, the mist should keep us hidden but from the bow on we have to stay quiet, I even had to turn off the engine, Gato's men might catch us," Mr Row man said and Naruto placed both of his hands on his mouth,

 _Flashback_

 _Mr Sensei, Sir? I have something to tell you," at this both Lucy and Kakashi turned to look at him,_ "as _you've probably guessed I lied about the mission, it is more dangerous than I made you believe. You see there's a powerful man who wants me dead," Tazuna started and Lucy just glared at him. She gets that he was in a tough situation but that doesn't excuse him for putting children's lives at risk,_

 _"A powerful man?" Kakashi asked,_

 _"Who is he?" Lucy questioned,_

 _"You've probably heard of him. He's a billionaire in marine transport, his name is Gato, " at this both Kakashi's and Lucy's eyes widened in surprise,_

 _"That little rich dude who's in charge of transport? " Lucy questioned him with a bored tone,_

 _"They say that he's the richest in the world," Kakashi finished in amazement,_

 _"That's him, he's actually a murdering criminal who hires_ a _rogue ninja to do his dirty work. He traffics drugs and started taking over companies and even ended up running entire countries, he lives by every low and vicious trade known to man," Tazuna started to explain and Lucy yawned loudly, "You_ _got something to say, girl? Or is my story boring you?" Tazuna_ _snapped at her,_

 _"Nothing, I've just dealt with these types of men before, they're really not that much trouble if you know what you're doing," Lucy replied,_

 _"What would a little girl like you know about vile businessmen?"_

 _"Well for one thing, my father used to be one of those vile businessmen," Lucy said looking dead serious, Tazuna and the Genin were looking at Lucy in surprise, "I remember how my father would always push me away for work and money, he only ever saw_ _me as a means to an end. Once he tried to set_ _up an arranged marriage for me and I ran away, no way was I going to be sold to the highest bidder," after a minute of having no_ one speaks _Lucy continued, "Not long after I had run away I was on a job that required me to steal back someone's property from a businessman, it was a book. This book was written by a famous author, but the author was forced to write it. The businessman made the author write a book about himself, he kept the author trapped in a basement for three years until he finished the book," Lucy explained,_

 _"What happened to the businessman?" Tazuna asked,_

 _"I took him down of course and arranged for the fortunes to be sent to a nearby struggling town," Lucy said, "So trust me when I say I know what I'm doing," No one spoke after that for a good few minutes and Lucy was beginning to get tired of this mission, "Tazuna, can you please continue your story?" She asked him and he jolted out of his shock and continued on._

 _"It has been one year since Gato set his sights on the Land of Waves, he came to us under the disguise as a business vendor but then the violence began. In no time at all he had taken over our Marine Transportation and Shipping Industry. Gato has a stronghold on the wealth and transportation of the land of waves the only thing that could stand in his way is the completion of that bridge," Tazuna explained and it made total sense to Lucy, if the Land of Waves was connected to the continent then there would be no need for a Marine Transportation system. Gato would be out of work._

 _"So as the architect of the bridge Mr Tazuna, you are the ole person standing in this Gato's way," Sakura said with a thoughtful expression,_

 _"It also means that those ninja who attacked us were Gato's men," Sasuke continued and Naruto was standing there trying to keep up with what they were saying._

 _"There's one thing I still don't understand," Kakashi started, "if you knew you were being targeted why apply for lower level protection? Why not tell us the requirements when you arrived at the leaf?" He asked Tazuna,_

 _"Isn't it obvious Kakashi?" Lucy questioned and everyone turned to look at her, "he can't afford elite protection if Gato has control of there primary workforce and industry they're_ _not getting a stable income. If they were there wouldn't be any need for the bridge," Lucy stated bluntly,_

 _"The little lady is right, I couldn't_ _afford a B-rank mission, of you all, leave me to hear how I'm as good as_ dead," _Tazuna started, "but oh well that's not your concern, you won't be there to see my daughter and ten-year-old grandson cry their hearts out about my death and I guess you wouldn't mind my daughter vowing eternal hatred for the Hidden leaf village," Tazuna said dramatically and Lucy only rolled her eyes at how stupid he sounded,_

 _"Oh well, I guess it can't be helped them," Kakashi said sweatdropping and Lucy gave him a look that clearly said ,'you're getting soft.'_

 _Flashback end_

"We'll be there soon, " Mr Row man stated and broke Lucy out of her thoughts, "Tazuna, it seems like we haven't been spotted, but just to be safe I'll take you through the waterway closer to town the canopy should help with our cover," Mr Row man said quietly,

"Thank you," Tazuna replies and Lucy grew a tick mark on her head. Tazuna never thanked them for their trouble only manipulated them into work. Naruto began to look amazed at the sight from the waterway, trees surrounded the area but buildings and houses surrounded that. Lucy smiled fondly at his look of awe and wondered how long that would last now that he was a Genin. Not that Naruto has had an easy going life but he still got excited over practically anything. Mr Row man turned the boat, parallel to a dock,

"This is as far as it goes, take care of everyone, " he said as everyone got out of the boat,

"Thank you, sorry for the trouble, I never should have asked, " Tazuna replied in gratitude, Mr Row man started the engine to the boat and it gurgled to life and he sped away.

Lucy sweatdropped, _'What was the point of us being quiet then?'_ She thought to herself. Everyone was walking along quietly,

"Now get me home in one piece," Tazuna demanded and Lucy growled under her breath, Kakashi put a hand on her head,

"Yeah, yeah," he said to Tazuna, equally annoyed.

Everyone was walking along quietly, well everyone except Naruto, he was making weird expressions on his face and gestures with his hands. Finally, he looked to Sasuke and got a look of determination on his face before he threw a shuriken at a random set of bushes, "it must have been a mouse," Naruto said and tried to look cool by running his fingers through his hair,

"What mouse? There's nothing there you moron," Sakura yelled furiously,

"Don't mess around with your shuriken Naruto, they're dangerous," Kakashi stressed out and Lucy was looking around just to make sure after all, Lucy knew that the next opponent wasn't going to be so easy to get rid of.

"You midget, stop scaring us and messing with our heads," Tazuna yelled out, with all of this commotion there's really no need for cover now, considering their position had just been blown. Both Lucy's and Kakashi's head snapped in the direction of a bush that moved and Naruto threw another Kunai at it,

"I told you to quit it you moron," Sakura yelled and punched Naruto in the head, whilst they were arguing Lucy and Kakashi walked over to the bush and saw a white snow hare terrified with a shuriken above its head. Sakura and Naruto started to fawn over it but Lucy looked towards Kakashi,

"Kakashi, that was a snow hare right?" She asked him and he looked at her,

"Yeah," was all he said and continued to look at her as she figured out what was wrong,

"But it's spring, why does it still have a white pelt?" She asked and everyone looked over to her, Kakashi pat her head and leaned down towards her ear,

"The hare must be a decoy, raised as a pet for substitution uses," he whispered, Lucy tensed as Kakashi stood up and nodded her head. She closed her eyes and tried to sense anyone nearby while Kakashi stood closer to her in case they aimed for her,

"Hey, what are you closing your eyes like that for? We are meant to be guarding someone," Sakura screeched at Lucy. As Lucy had all of her senses heightened at that moment she almost started crying at the pain that resounded in her ears, she clutched them and fell to her knees,

"Lucy, are you okay?" Kakashi asked her as he knelt down next to her,

"I'll be fine but I'd be even better if she knew how to use an indoor voice like a normal person, " she cringed as she talked, her ears were still sensitive,

"Hey, stop faking it I'm not that loud," Sakura screeched once again and Lucy's face twisted in pain,

"Sakura just shut up, the reason she's hurt is that she was trying to sense if any enemies were nearby, with her heightened senses your scream must have hit her eardrums, " Sasuke said before Kakashi could and he went to go help Lucy up as Sakura flushed in embarrassment. Suddenly Lucy's and Kakashi's eyes snapped open wide,

"Everybody down," they yelled and Lucy pushed Sasuke to the floor and tripped over Tazuna while Kakashi made sure Naruto and Sakura did as instructed. A large sword came flying over them and lodged itself into a tree, someone landed on the sword, facing the direction of the tree and looked back down at them.

 _'He's in the bingo book, what did they call him again? Crux?'_ Lucy asked her spirit silently,

 _'His name is Zabuza Momochi, otherwise known as the demon of the hidden mist, his rank is ANBU, graduated from the academy at age nine, was one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the mist, now considered a_ missing-nin _after he fled from the Mist after the first attempt to overthrow the Mizukage,'_ Crux recited,

 _'Why would he need to overthrow the Mizukage?'_ Lucy wondered,

' _The Mizukage is ruthless, a coup d'etat tried to break out but ultimately failed, they are currently raising funds for a second attempt,'_ Crux replied,

 _'Thanks, I owe you one,'_ Lucy finished and cut the connection,

"Zabuza Momochi, missing-nin of the Hidden Mist," Kakashi said and Naruto started to run forwards on to be stopped by Lucy,

"Lucy, why?" He whined,

"This guy is way out of your league, he's not like the other two," Lucy said seriously,

"Lucy," Kakashi said and Lucy turned to look at him, "Stay out of this one," she couldn't believe what she was hearing,

"Excuse me?" Lucy spluttered out,

"Look I don't have time to explain, just do as I say," he said and grabbed his forehead protector, "if I'm going to face him I'm going to need this," he finished and pulled up his forehead protector and uncovered his Sharingan,

 _'Great, I'm_ going to be carrying him the rest of the way, _aren't I? "_ Lucy thought to herself as she brought out her halberd and held it in front of herself,

"Huh it's Kakashi of the Sharingan if it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you pass over the old man?" Zabuza said mockingly. Sasuke tensed at the mention of the Sharingan, "this is such an honour, to face that eye so early on," Zabuza mocked,

"Sharingan eye, what is that?" Naruto said and Sasuke started to explain,

"The Sharingan is a dojutsu that enables its user to see through almost any illusion," Sasuke started, "but that's not all it has many hidden abilities,"

"That's right but the boy only scratched the surface, the Sharingan a can catch an opposition moves to the greatest detail and then replicate the results," Zabuza said, "when I was an assassin for kirigakure, I acquired a Bingo book there, it had quite the extensive knowledge on you. The one who has copied over a thousand ninjutsu, Kakashi the copy ninja," Naruto and Sakura looked at Kakashi in amazement, Sakura couldn't actually believe that Kakashi was that accomplished. Sasuke looked at Kakashi with suspicion, "enough chit-chat, I'm on a mission to eliminate the old man," Zabuza announced and Tazuna looked scared, "it seems I'm going to have to take you down first, Kakashi," he announced and jumped into a river that wasn't too far from them and stood on top of the water which seemed to surprise the Genin.

"Manji formation you three," Lucy yelled and the Genin jumped to surround Tazuna, Lucy stood in front of them protectively,

"Hidden mist just," Zabuza announced, and fog started to appear around the river,

"He'll come for me first, Zabuza Momochi is most famous for the silent killing technique. Do not let your guard down, if you do it'll be a one-way ticket to death. I haven't completely mastered the Sharingan eye so stay on your toes,"

"There are eight points," came Zabuza's voice from within the fog, "the throat, spinal column, lungs, liver, the jugular, subclavian artery, kidney and heart," he continued on and the Genin were getting scared, Sasuke had even started shaking, "So many choices, so many places to strike, which way would you prefer to go?" He asked them mockingly and Lucy could see that the fog was thickening and decided to activate her dojutsu. Kakashi, however, let out a burst of chakra and cleared the area around himself, just enough so that they could see him,

"Sasuke, don't worry, I'll protect all of you. I won't let my comrades die," he said and smiled at all of them,

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," said Zabuza and in the blink of an eye he was in between the Genins and the bridge builder, however, Lucy saw him move and swung her halberd so that it was pointing to his throat,

"Neither should you," Lucy said and glared at him from her place between the Genin and Kakashi, she didn't waste any time and slashed her halberd through Zabuza but he turned to water and splashed onto the ground. Lucy turned to look back at Kakashi but saw that Zabuza was coming up behind him, "Kakashi," was all she got out before Zabuza swung his sword at him and sliced right through but Kakashi also turned into water. Lucy let out a slight sigh in relief and prepared herself once again,

"Don't move," Kakashi said from his place behind Zabuza and pointed a kunai to his neck, "you're finished,"

"Awesome," Naruto yelled out and Sakura started giggling, Sasuke relaxed a bit but Lucy still kept her guard up, you never know when something could go wrong,

"That's what you think, it'll take a lot more to take me down than to just mimic me like a monkey," Zabuza said, "a lot more, but I have to admit that you are good. You managed to copy my water clone technique in the middle of my fog, and then made your clone say something that you would have. Making sure my attention was focused on it while you hid in the mist to watch my every move, too bad for you though, " Zabuza continued and Lucy tightened her grip on her halberd, "I'm not fooled by cheap tricks," he said as he fell into another splash of water and his real body appeared behind Kakashi. Zabuza swung his sword at Kakashi but Kakashi ducked underneath it, the size and weight of the sword must be quite a lot because Zabuza had to make sure the top of the sword was forced into the ground, he then used the sword to lean against and swung his leg around to kick Kakashi and Kakashi ended up being forced into the water.

Kakashi tried to stand up on the water but was forced down by its weight, "Huh, you fool, Water Prison Jutsu," Zabuza yelled out from behind Kakashi and a ball of water appeared around Kakashi, much like one of Juvia's water locks. "You're done for, this prison is inescapable. I'll finish you off later but for now I have to take care of the others," as he said that he made more water clones appear, Lucy clenched her jaw,

 _'This isn't good, with Kakashi trapped I can't just go in blindly. Who'll watch over the Genins and client?'_ She thought to herself and took a deep breath to calm her nerves,

"Little wannabe ninja, you even go so far as to wear a forehead protector, but you're not a real ninja, not until you've played with the line of life and death time and time again. Clothes don't make you a shinobi you need skills good enough to land in my bingo book to even be classified as a ninja, we like to call your kind," Zabuza's clone vanished before them and Naruto was suddenly kicked backwards,

"Naruto," Sakura yelled out and Lucy was still thinking about what to do,

"Brats," Zabuza original yelled out in glee.

"Everyone listens, I want you to take Tazuna and run, this is a fight you can't win. If he wants to hold me hear he can't move and his clones can only go so far before he loses control of them," Kakashi yelled out from his place inside the water prison,

"That's not happening Kakashi, I'm not leaving," Lucy yelled out and transformed into her Aquarius star dress, in this form Zabuza wouldn't be able to catch her off guard with water-based Jutsu's.

"This is not up for debate Lucy, take the Genin and run, get Tazuna to the wave country," Kakashi shouted and Naruto suddenly started running towards Zabuza,

"Naruto stop," Lucy shouted at him and Zabuza's clone once again kicked him away but when he stood up he held his forehead protector in his hand,

"Hehe, I've got a new listing for your bingo book you eyebrow-less freak," he said and blood dripped from his mouth, "the next Hokage of the leaf village, Naruto Uzumaki," with that he tied his forehead protector around his head and smirked up at Zabuza's clone. Just like that Tazuna's and the other two genins worry melted away, Lucy was still sceptical but all she could do was make sure that he made it out of this alive.

"Alright boys, this is what we're going to do," Lucy started, "while I keep the clone busy you two are going to get Kakashi put of that jutsu," she said and both boys smirked, "Sakura," Lucy called and she looked up in surprise, "I need you to set up a couple traps that will be easy to move Tazuna out of the way but still ensure that no more clones get near him," she instructed and Sakura got a determined look on her face before Lucy left a couple of clones to guard Tazuna while Sakura went to work.

"Hey Sasuke, I got a plan," Naruto said and Lucy knew that it was time to distant the water clone, "Let's go wild, Sasuke," Naruto shouted and like that they all got to work.

"Heh you all seem very confident but you don't stand a chance against me," Zabuza shouted,

"Listen to me and run, this fight was over the second I got caught," Kakashi yelled at them and Lucy looked insulted,

"Well excuse me Mr Captured," she said sarcastically,

"You have a duty here, our mission is to protect Mr Tazuna," Kakashi continued and they all looked towards Tazuna,

"Hehe, the truth of the matter is that I am the reason you're all here, I lied about the mission, I've lived a long life and it wouldn't be right if I just let you kids die so young while protecting me. So give this fight all you've got," he said to them,

"Are you ready for this?" Naruto asked Sasuke who only smirked in response,

"Hehe, apparently you don't care as to whether you live or die. Lke being a ninja is a child's game," Zabuza started before he looked at his hands, "by the time I was your age I already had blood on my hands," he said and started laughing,

"Zabuza the demon," Lucy whispered, "long ago in the village hidden in the mist, also known as the bloody mist, the final step to being a full fledged ninja was by doing the most inhuman test imaginable," she continued,

"Ah, so the little lady has heard about our graduation exercise," Zabuza said,

"Why is that so surprising we have a graduation exam too you know," Naruto yelled,

"I wouldn't call it an exam, it's more like an all-out massacre," Zabuza said lowly and the Genin all swallowed loudly, "children who learned together, ate together, even lived together were paired off to fight to the death. They had trained together, lived together and shared each other's hopes and dreams,"

"That's terrible," Sakura whispered,

"Ten years ago the elders of the village hidden in the mist were forced to undergo a sweeping reform of their barbaric graduation exam," Kakashi explained from his place inside the water prison, "Because of the appearance the previous year of a human friend that made the reform essential,"

"Without a moment's hesitation, a boy about nine years of age, slaughtered over a hundred members or that years graduating class, " Lucy jumped in and explained while she had her activated eyes trained upon Zabuza's real body,

"That's right, aha I use to have such fun with my classmates. You can't even begin to imagine how good it felt, " Zabuza announced almost hollow like but with a hint of satisfaction bordering his tone,

Suddenly Zabuza's clone jumped forward in order to hit Sasuke but before he could reach him Lucy jumped into the air and covered her left foot with water and brought it down on Zabuza's clone but it jumped out of the way before it would hit and left a large crater in the ground. Lucy stood in front of Sasuke with her hands surrounded by water,

"Well aren't you interesting," Zabuza stated as he laughed, "it's time to die,"

"Multi-shadow clone jutsu, " Naruto shouted and dozens of Naruto's poofed into existence and ran at Zabuza's clone. Zabuza's clone spun around and sliced through Naruto's clones with his sword, Naruto skid on the ground and started to rummage through his bag. He grabbed out a large shuriken, similar to the one that Mizuki had the night Naruto graduated, "Sasuke," Naruto yelled and threw him the kunai, as soon as Sasuke grabbed it he spun around and Lucy got a good idea as to what they had planned.

"Demon wind shuriken windmill of shadows," Sasuke said as he held the kunai out in front of him, he jumped into the air and threw the large shuriken.

"Shuriken won't work on me," Zabuza's clone bragged but was surprised when it flew straight past him and headed for the original Zabuza, "well at least you had some sense to aim for my original body," he said but does the large shuriken by bending over backwards and letting it fly right past his head but when he stood back up another shuriken was coming for his legs, "a second shuriken?" He wondered out loud,

"He used the shadow shuriken jutsu," Kakashi said out loud and just then Zabuza jumped over the second shuriken and it went past him, "What an amateur move," Zabuza bragged but then a cloud of smoke and a poof noise sounded from behind him and everyone except Sasuke and Lucy who were smirking. Naruto transformed back into himself with a kunai in his hand and threw it at Zabuza's hand that was attached to the water prison that Kakashi was still inside.

Zabuza had to move his hand out of the water prison in order to avoid getting hurt and glared harshly at Naruto. He aimed his sword at Naruto as he landed in the water, Lucy moved towards Naruto and changed into her Cancer star dress, Kakashi moved in front of Naruto and held up his hand but Lucy moved her sword before Zabuza's could reach them. A loud clang sounded in the area and Zabuza was surprised to see Lucy blocking his sword with one of her own.

"Alright I've had enough of playing babysitter," Lucy growled and pushed Zabuza's sword away from her, standing in front of Kakashi and Naruto, "Kakashi, it's my turn," she said and Zabuza and herself jumped away from one another,

"Naruto you're plan worked, well done, you've all matured," Lucy heard Kakashi say from behind her and Naruto began to explain what he and Sasuke had done,

"Look girl I'll admit you're interesting but do you really think you can beat me?" Zabuza started and Lucy just looked at him, everyone else stopped to look at them as well,

"Listen up demon Zabuza," she started, "I couldn't care less who you are or what you've done in the past but you threatened several people that I care about," she yelled out and glared at him, her eyes still activated but she could feel a burning sensation in them, "and for that I will take you down where you stand," Lucy shouted and started to run at him still in her Cancer star-dress form, Zabuza blocked her attack but was surprised to see that her swords had put a crack in his blade. They went back and forth until Zabuza had started to make hand signs for a water-based jutsu, Lucy quickly acquired her Aquarius star dress form and started to make her own hand signs just as quickly,

"Water style, " they both shouted,

"Water wall jutsu," Lucy finished and at the same time Zabuza shouted,

"Water dragon jutsu," Zabuza's attack hit Lucy's water wall but couldn't break it, Lucy then pushed the water in Zabuza's direction and made it flood, pushing Zabuza back into the trees,

"Lucy," Kakashi yelled out and he came to a stop beside her, she was breathing deeply and starting to feel tired from having her dojutsu activated for so long, "take a break Lucy, I'll take it from here," he said and Lucy nodded before deactivating her dojutsu and jumping back towards the others,

"Wow Lucy that was incredible," Naruto shouted as he ran towards her, Sasuke made quick to follow behind him,

"Thanks Naruto, I have to say though boys you two really impressed me today," she said towards the both of them,

 _'Wow, Lucy is amazing, calm and collected but passionate at the same time. Not to mention she's super smart too, compared to her I'm just a thistle wart,'_ Sakura thought to herself as she looked down at the ground slightly,

"Sakura," Lucy said and she looked up in surprise, "nice work," Lucy smiled at her and Sakura's eyes widened in surprise and she smiled back at Lucy.

They all looked back to see Kakashi and Zabuza making hand signs, Lucy began to feel slightly dizzy before the feeling went away again, she saw Zabuza pause in making his hand signs for a second but it was barely noticeable, "water style, water dragon missile, " they both shouted at the same time. Everyone was swept away by the amount of water that was thrown everywhere,

 _'No matter how many times I see it I'm still amazed by Kakashi's skill in ninjutsu,'_ Lucy thought to herself as she created a forcefield of water around everyone to protect them from any more attacks. Kakashi started to mirror Zabuza, making the same arm movements at the same time, but Lucy got a headache whenever she looked at them. _' Zabuza must be stuck in a genjutsu, no wonder I felt dizzy before,'_ Lucy thought to herself,

"Through them all," Kakashi suddenly shouted, "got that sickeningly evil look in his eye, right?" He yelled again and everyone was confused, Lucy was starting to catch on to what he was doing though.

"You're just a pale imitation," Zabuza started to say,

"I'm the real thing, no mere copycat stands a chance against me," they said together and the Genin started to catch on as well, except maybe Naruto,

"You mimic me like a parrot, I'll close that beak for good," Zabuza said as he started to freak out, suddenly Kakashi started to make a hand full of signs,

"Water style waterfall jutsu," he shouted and a projectile of water hit Zabuza full-on, the water dome that Lucy had put up protected them from the aftermath. Zabuza hit a tree and spluttered out water, "Well that's that, " Kakashi said as he appeared on too of a branch on the tree,

"Can you see the future?" Zabuza asked fearfully,

"Yes, I see your death," Kakashi said darkly as he held up a kunai to strike a final time but two throwing needles suddenly struck Zabuza in the neck knocking him out cold.

"You were right, his death did come," a masked ninja said from his place above everyone, "Thank you for all of your help, I have been tracking Zabuza for years," he said and Lucy moved forward in order to check Zabuza,

"His heart has defiantly stopped," she said to Kakashi with her dojutsu activated,

"Those markings, aren't you a hunter shinobi from the Mist village?" Kakashi asked and the masked ninja nodded his head slightly,

"Aren't you a smart one," he said almost mockingly, "I am indeed a hunter nin from the villavillage hidden in the mist, we deal with the art of hunting down and eliminating rogue ninja,"

Naruto moved forward and started glaring in frustration at the Hunter ninja, "Hey what's the big idea," he shouted,

"Calm down Naruto he's not an enemy," Kakashi said,

"That's not what I'm asking, I mean he killed Zabuza who was no pushover but got taken out by a guy who is no older than me, what have we been training for then?" He yelled out and Lucy sighed,

"Well you have my sympathy, I can see how something like this would be hard to accept, buts it's a fact you'll have to live with," Kakashi said as he pat Naruto's head, "this won't be the last time we come across someone younger than you but stronger than me," he said and the masked ninja appeared beside Zabuza,

"The remains must be disposed of before our secrets become known, I must be off now," he said and made a hand sign before he disappeared before them,

"Alright then everyone, we still need to escort Mr Tazuna back to his home," Kakashi said and he pulled his forehead protector back down to cover his Sharingan,

"Ahaha you poor kids, so humiliating, don't worry you can lick your wounds at my place," Tazuna said obnoxiously before Kakashi started to fall to the ground but Lucy ran to catch him. Everyone started to freak out,

"Don't worry everyone he just overdid it," Lucy said and asked Naruto and Sasuke to help her carry him the rest of the way to Tazuna's place.


	17. Chapter 17

Kakashi woke to a wooden ceiling and a heavy feeling in his chest, "Ah awake are you, are you alright?" A young woman that appeared to be in her late twenties said to Kakashi with her hands on her hips,

"Not yet, but I will be, in about a week or so," Kakashi said from his place on the floor,

"Kakashi sensei, your Sharingan is amazing and everything but the strain is too much, maybe it's not worth it," Sakura said as she sat down on Kakashi's left side,

"Sorry," he groaned out, "why does my chest feel so heavy?" He asked,

"Maybe it's got to do with the exhausted little girl laying on it?" The young woman said amused, Kakashi looked down to see Lucy sleeping on him and his eyes softened slightly,

"Yeah, as soon as we got you here Lucy healed up all of our injuries, she completely overdid it," Sakura said and crossed her arms over her chest,

"That sounds about right," Kakashi said and placed a hand on Lucy's head,

"At least it was to bring down that demon Zabuza, now we can rest easy," Tazuna said,

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Lucy groaned out as she sat up,

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked concerned, Kakashi also sat up,

"I mean that hunter ninja was suspicious don't you think?" Lucy questioned,

"That's right, that explains the weird feeling I've been getting," Kakashi said as he put a hand on his chin,

"I was wondering about that hunter ninja too," Sakura said, "for some reason, I just can't seem to get my mind off of it,"

"That mask is worn by the most elite and secret ninja of the hidden mist, the shinobi hunters all wear them, their code name is the undertaker squad," Kakashi started,

"It's because they can dispose of corpses as if they never existed, even after a shinobi dies their bodies still hold secrets of their respected villages. You can find a lot out about a village just by obtaining someone's body, for example, any poisons or antidotes that the shinobi consumes could be deciphered," Lucy continued,

"Yes, another example could be that if an enemy ninja were to get their hands on my body, they could extract my Sharingan and use it against the village," Kakashi finished off,

"I still don't understand why this makes that masked kid suspicious," Tazuna said,

"Think about it, Hunter shinobi are meant to dispose of their target on sight but how did that guy dispose of Zabuza?" Lucy questioned,

"How should we know? He took the body with him," Sakura shrugged and Sasuke got a look of realisation in his eyes,

"Exactly, why take a body that is clearly heavier than yourself when all you need as proof is a head?" Lucy continued to say hoping to help Sakura come to the same conclusion,

"There's also the choice of weapon the Hunter-nin used," Kakashi prompted,

"He used throwing needles," Sasuke said,

"Yes, it's most likely that Zabuza is still alive," Kakashi said gravely and everyone got a look of surprise on their face,

"But Kakashi sensei, Lucy checked the body, she said his heart stopped," Sakura yelled,

"That's true his heart did stop but those throwing needles can hit certain pressure points that could put Zabuza in a death-like state and temporarily stop his heart from beating. It's possible that it only stopped for about 30 seconds before it started again," Lucy concluded,

"Of course, this may all just be us being paranoid but as shinobi, we must prepare for the unexpected," Kakashi said and Tazuna had a look of disbelief on his face,

"Aren't you just over thinking things?" Tazuna said slightly annoyed,

"Well we could just ignore it but as I said we should prepare for the unexpected, usually when something doesn't feel right to a shinobi they should listen to that instinct. If it weren't for those instincts' shinobi would be pretty bad at their jobs," Kakashi replied simply and looked towards his students. Naruto had a humongous grin on his face and looked completely excited,

"But Kakashi-Sensei, you said to prepare for the unexpected, how can we do that when you and Lucy can barely move?" Sakura asked,

"That doesn't mean I can't train you," Kakashi said laughing slightly,

"Huh, train us? How is a week of training going to prepare us for someone like Zabuza?" Sakura demanded, _'is he trying to get us killed'_ she thought to herself furiously, "even you with your Sharingan almost got defeated,"

"But how did I beat him in the first place? It's because all of you helped me that I was able to win, Naruto, " Kakashi said and looked towards Naruto, "you've grown the most," he said with a closed-eyed smile,

"Ah, so you noticed Kakashi-Sensei, " Naruto said and ran a hand through his hair as he imagined sparkles appear around him, Sakura looked towards Naruto with doubt written all over her face,

"With that said this type of training will be enough for you guys to guard Zabuza until Lucy and I are back on our feet," Kakashi said,

"But sensei, if Zabuza is still alive how can we train while not knowing when he could strike again?" Sakura asked,

"Good question, why don't you explain Lucy? " Kakashi said sat back and Lucy pouted at him slightly before starting,

"When someone is put into a near death state their body goes into a temporary paralysis, it takes quite a while before the body is fully functional again," Sakura and Sasuke seemed to understand but Naruto still looked lost, "Think about it this way Naruto, if you have a bowl full of ramen but tipped out the food you would need to gather the ingredients and make it all over again to refill the bowl, that's what Zabuza's body would be doing, refilling itself until it was functional again," everyone sweat dropped at Naruto's look of understanding once Lucy finished explaining and began to look excited,

"Alright so we train while we wait, this is gonna be great," Naruto yelled out excitedly,

"What's so great about it?" Called out a squeaky annoying voice from the entrance of the room, everyone turned and saw a small boy with black hair, overalls on and a bucket hat,

"Who the heck are you?" Naruto demanded,

"Inari where have you been?" Tazuna shouted excitedly towards the little boy and Lucy concluded that this must be the grandson that Tazuna mentioned before, this thought was confirmed when the boy started running towards the no longer grumpy old man,

"Welcome back Grandpa," he ran towards Tazuna,

"Inari that was very rude, these ninjas made sure that your Grandpa was brought back here safely," the woman that Lucy learned was named Tsunami said sternly to Inari,

"Don't worry I'm rude to them as well," Tazuna laughed out loud and Tsunami looked towards her father in displeasure,

"But mum, if they stay here, they are all gonna die," Inari said pointing towards Naruto who was now standing up in anger,

"Now listen here you little twerp," Naruto shouted,

"No one can beat Gato and his men," Inari said firmly, Naruto started to try and run at Inari but Sakura held him back,

"he's just a child Naruto, pull yourself together," she shouted,

"Hey kid listen here, pay attention," Naruto demanded and you could tell that Inari was tempted not to just turn away to make Naruto mad, "I'm a superhero that someday is going to be named Hokage, this Gato or Gateau guy, his name is chocolate you can't seriously expect me to be scared of something like that," Naruto shouted proudly but Inari only scoffed at him,

"Hero? You're such an idiot, there's no such thing," Inari walked off after that and eventually the Genin left to go to the room beside Kakashi's to get their gear for training,

"So, you're okay then?" Lucy asked Kakashi after a minute of silence,

"Yeah, I'm okay," Kakashi replied as he laid back down,

"Alright then," Lucy said as she stood up slowly, still exhausted from overusing her chakra,

"Lucy are you okay?" Kakashi asked her before she reached the door,

"Just chakra loss," Lucy said and started walking towards the door again,

"That's not what I meant," Kakashi started again, "Lucy you've been a little short with me lately, is something wrong, did I do something?" he questioned her and Lucy sighed heavily,

"it's nothing, I've just been busy lately," she said trying to keep in her frustrations, she didn't want to blame Kakashi or put anything unnecessary on his shoulders. It was selfish of her to even keep her origins a secret in the first place, she knew that he would act like this, she never should have gotten attached in the first place,

"Don't use that excuse with me," he said to her stubbornly,

"Why not? You do," Lucy snapped and she turned around to glare at him but her face softened a moment later into a look of acceptance, her eyes were sad but everything else on her face was acceptance,

"What are you talking about?" Kakashi asked her confused,

"Oh, come off it Kakashi, ever since you found out about where I come from you can't stand to be alone with me. You're always running off to do some mission," she said and put her hands on her hips,

"Now just hold on," Kakashi started but Lucy cut him off,

"Look I understand okay, but at least have the decency to say something instead of making excuses," Lucy continued to rant but Kakashi eventually cut her off,

"Lucy would you just shut up and come here?" he snapped at her and she finally quieted down but she didn't move, "I said come here," Kakashi repeated but she still didn't move, Kakashi sighed, "this was supposed to be a surprise," Kakashi mumbled under his breath as he reached over to his bag and ruffled through it, he took a scroll out of it and held it out to Lucy, when she just looked at it in confusion he sighed in irritation, "well, take it," he said and shook it in front of her. Lucy stepped up and took the scroll out of his hands, opening it she saw that it was a scroll that had ancient sealing techniques inside,

"Kakashi, what is this?" Lucy asked him in a whisper,

"It has information on the forbidden seal that connects someone to another person," as he said this Lucy looked up at him with a look of disbelief on her face, "a few days after Loke told me about your origins I went to speak to the Hokage, he said that he mentioned this to you so I volunteered to find it. That's why I was doing all of those missions, I needed information and the money to get it. I eventually found it about a month ago on the black market and last week I had hired a rogue to go and get it for me, with the Hokage's permission of course," Kakashi explained and Lucy felt tears appear in her eyes, she sniffed and Kakashi started to freak out, "Oh wait a minute, I thought that you wanted this?" he said with wide eyes and he started to wave his hands around in the air. Lucy shook her head and covered her eyes with her blonde bangs before she threw herself at Kakashi, she held onto him tightly,

"thank you," she whispered and Kakashi felt himself go still, "thank you," she said louder and cried while Kakashi pats her on the head.

 **Time Skip**

"so, your training begins today," Kakashi said to the three Genin's as he stood in front of them while leaning on a pair of crutches, Lucy was currently asleep in the room Kakashi had woken up in. Naruto was shouting excitingly and jumping into the air, "but first let's talk about the basis of your ninja powers, the body energies known and chakras,"

"but we already know how to use catra," Naruto said stupidly,

"it's chakra you idiot, jeez did you sleep through every class?" Sakura yelled out,

"Sakura explain it please," Kakashi said and Sakura happily took out a scroll while acting all snob like towards Naruto,

"Iruka really did have some excellent students," Kakashi praised after Sakura has finished,

"he does have a point though, we're already using our chakra in our ninjutsu," Sasuke said plainly from behind both Sakura and Naruto.

"You've only just scratched the surface, " Kakashi said and began to explain, "So far you've just been guessing at chakra use, if you use too much or too little the ninjutsu won't work at all, you would just be wasting chakra and time,"

"So how do we fix it?" Naruto asked,

"You need to learn to control your body through training, learn by experience," Kakashi said,

"But how do we do that?" Sakura asked,

"Simple, by climbing a tree," Kakashi smiling and the three Genin just looked at him,

"Climbing trees? How does that qualify as training?" Sakura asked,

"Just listen to you three, this won't be any ordinary tree climbing exercise. You won't be allowed to use your hands," Kakashi explained,

"But how?" Sakura asked,

"Sound awesome," Naruto yelled out excitedly,

"Just watch," Kakashi said and made a hand sign to focus his chakra towards his feet then started to walk towards one of the trees in front of them all. Once he got there he started to walk up the side of the tree whilst on his crutches like he was taking a leisurely stroll,

"He's walking parallel to the ground," Sakura stated in amazement,

"That's it in a nutshell," Kakashi said as he got to a branch and stood upside down on it, "focus your chakra to the soles of your feet and use it to cling to the tree,"

"But sensei, how is this going to make us stronger?" Sakura interrupted,

"I was just getting to that, listen and learn, the point of this exercise is chakra control. To use no more than necessary but to maximise its effects on where and how it's applied. This control is needed for every jutsu you'll attempt to do, it's also difficult for even masters to accomplish. Climbing trees without hands require a sense of delicacy while also maintaining the chakra in a steady flow. The feet are also the hardest places to control chakra from, in saying that, if you can master this then no Jutsu should be unattainable to you. In theory anyway," Kakashi explained, "the second reason why this is so important is that by doing this over and over again it builds up your stamina if you think this is hard just think about how hard it is to do ninjutsu mid-battle. Battles are forever changing and a shinobi must be able to manipulate their chakra in accordance with those changes, these teachings could save your lives one day. But enough talking for one day, the only way to learn is by doing it yourself," as Kakashi said this he threw a kunai in front of each one of the Genin, "use the kunai to mark your place on the tree before you fall off, use that place to mark your progress so you know what you're doing right or wrong," he said and all of the Genin picked up the kunai and looked towards the tree in determination, "You might want to get a running start," Kakashi finished as he walked back down the tree.

All three Genin started running towards their own trees and tried to run parallel to the ground, Naruto slid right off and landed on his back, Sasuke made it a couple of steps before he got pushed off by the amount of chakra he was using and flipped to land on his feet. _'That's about what I would expect from those two,'_ Kakashi thought,

"Hey this is pretty easy," Sakura called out and everyone looked up to see her settle down onto a branch with her kunai stuck in the tree beside her,

"Wow Sakura, now that's the girl I set my eyes on," Naruto yelled out, _'kind of pisses me off though,'_ he thought silently, while Sasuke only looked away.

"Well, it seems that the only one able to control chakra is the female of the group. Sakura is probably the closest one to becoming Hokage, despite all of the gloatings that Naruto did. And the Uchiha clan doesn't seem so impressive now does it?" Kakashi mocked both of the boys,

"You talk too much sense," Sakura yelled out furiously,

 _'However, within them, Naruto and Sasuke have notably more chakra in comparison to Sakura. If they achieve this training they could surpass even I one day, maybe even Lucy,'_ Kakashi thought as he watched the boys of the group run up the trees and fall off multiple times. Not long after, the boys were still attempting to run up the tree but Sakura was breathing heavily against a tree,

"So, Sakura has the control but not a large amount of chakra while the boys are the exact opposite," Lucy said as she came up to Kakashi,

"Seems so, although that was to be expected," he replied back to her and they both watched as Naruto walked over to Sakura, they strained to hear what he was saying,

"Hey Sakura you're good at this, would you mind giving me some tips?" He asked her in a whisper,

"Well it seems he's maturing," Kakashi whispered to Lucy and she smiled at the progress that Naruto was making.

 **Time Skip**

The next day Lucy and Sakura were at the bridge with Tazuna, Lucy had summoned Taurus and made eight shadow clones to help the bridge builders. Taurus was doing all of the heavy liftings while Lucy and her clones were getting into all of the hard to reach and right spaces. Sakura, however, was sitting down on a log supposedly 'guarding' Tazuna,

"Are you always this lazy?" Tazuna inquired as he walked past Sakura, "where are the other two, the noisy one and the one with the attitude problem?" He continued,

"They are currently training," Sakura answered,

"What? To difficult for you?" Tazuna mocked,

"Actually I'm the best, that's why sensei has me guarding you," Sakura stated proudly,

"Really?" He asked in complete disbelief and Lucy giggled slightly at the two and the day went on like that until a worker came up to Tazuna and took off his hat,

"Say Tazuna, don't you think it's time to call it quits?" The unknown worker asked,

"What? What are you talking about?" Tazuna demanded,

"It's just I'm risking my life here, it's getting too close. We should just call it quits before we're all killed," he stressed to Tazuna,

"I can't do that, this bridge belongs to us all. It's everything we've been working towards, this bridge will bring trade and commerce to this land and knock Gato out of business," Tazuna said as he walked away from his friend,

"But we're talking about peoples lives here, your life,"

"Has it gotten that late already? Let's stop for the day, and Giichi you don't have to come back," Tazuna said.

Lucy and Sakura followed Tazuna through town, Sakura was surprised and appalled at what she was seeing, Lucy was just feeling sorrow for the people that were living under those conditions, "my daughter needs vegetables for tonight's dinner," Tazuna explained as he went up to a stand that had moulding fruits and vegetables, Lucy used the commotion Sakura created to sneak away after that.

"Open Gate of the Maiden, Virgo," Lucy called out and waited for Virgo to appear,

"Punishment time princess?" She asked bowing slightly,

"No, I was wondering if you could help me with something?" Lucy asked her and just like that herself and her spirits got to work.

A couple of hours later Virgo and Taurus helped Lucy make a water filter system a little ways away from the town with Crux explaining through his key how to do it, Lucy created clones to make a couple of vegetable gardens with a plant that would grow healthy in the area. Virgo, however, had brought a couple of crates of fruits and vegetables for the time being. After that Lucy had gone into the middle of town and started to heal up the injuries of the men that were working on the bridge. It wasn't until the moon was in the middle of the night sky that Lucy saw how late it was and started to walk towards Tazuna's place, _'tomorrow I should teach the families on the street how to take care of the vegetable gardens and started healing up everyone else's injuries and illnesses,'_ she started to plan in her head on the way back.

"Lucy where have you been?" Kakashi asked as she walked through the door and came in to see everyone eating, "why are you covered in dirt?" He asked her expectingly,

"I was busy," she said which simply meant that she would tell him later,

"With what exactly? You disappeared while we were picking up stuff for dinner. We're meant to be guarding Tazuna, not go sightseeing," Sakura said snobbishly and Lucy hid her irritation,

"Are you saying you need help guarding him?" Was all she asked as she sat down on Kakashi's left and started to eat whatever was left on his plate, considering that Naruto and Sasuke was pigging out on whatever was left,

"I'm saying it's not just my job. Zabuza may still be out there and you were off playing around, if Tazuna had gotten hurt it would have been your fault," Sakura screeched at her and the boys stopped eating while Lucy's eyebrow twitched in irritation,

"Actually Sakura, I was building a working water filter system and healthy vegetable gardens for the villagers after the conditions I saw them live in. Not to mention I was helping build the bridge while you sat there bragging and looking at the village conditions in pity. I don't play around while I work," Lucy said and continued eating while Sakura went red with embarrassment and irritation, Kakashi pat Lucy's head and let her finish eating. Both Tazuna and his daughter, Tsunami were looking at her in surprise, Tsunami even had tears gathering in the corner of her eyes.

"You shouldn't push yourself, Lucy, Tazuna said that you used clones and summoned Taurus to help build the bridge, you're meant to be healing," he said to her,

"I feel fine," was her quick reply and when he went to say something else to boys threw up,

"Don't keep eating if you're only going to throw it up," Sakura yelled at them,

"Didn't you just hear what I said? This village is struggling to eat and you're throwing up good food," Lucy said in annoyance,

"I have to keep eating," Sasuke groaned,

"I have to eat if I want to be stronger," Naruto said as he wiped his mouth,

"While that is true but throwing up isn't going to help anybody," Kakashi said,

"Hey, why-why is this picture torn?" Sakura asked from the wall that she had been inspecting, Tazuna, Tsunami and Inari all stiffened,

"Sakura that's rude," Lucy told her but Sakura scoffed and raised her nose in the air,

"What I was just asking? Besides I saw that Inari kept glancing at it during dinner," she said to Lucy snobbishly,

"We are guests in this house Sakura, you should be more polite," Lucy said as she sighed, _'This girl is exhausting, doesn't help that she doesn't like me no matter my efforts to help or encourage her. That snob,'_ Lucy thought to herself as Tsunami started to speak,

"That was... a picture of my husband," she whispered,

"There was a time when this village called him a hero," Tazuna said and Inari stomped out of the room at this point,

"Inari, where are you going?" Tsunami started going after him, "father I told you not to talk about him in front of Inari," she said sternly and filled her son. Lucy sighed before looking at Sakura sternly but didn't say anything to her,

 _'Jeez, she's never going to learn is she,'_ Lucy thought, internally throwing a tantrum. The only reason why Lucy didn't get into arguments with Sakura about her disrespect to others was that she didn't want to needlessly argue with a 12-year-old girl. It was becoming harder to keep her mouth shut though, _'I hope this mission is over soon, I want to see Hinata and Shikamaru,'_

"It seems like there's a story here," Kakashi said finally, seeing no point in trying to be discreet,

"He wasn't Inari's biological father but they were as close as any father and son could be, Inari was such a happy and laughing child back then," Tazuna started sobbing, "But then Inari changed, after what happened to his father. This townpeople was robbed of the very meaning of courage, the day we lost Inari's father," everyone looked over at Tazuna waiting for him to continue,

"What happened?" Kakashi finally asked and Lucy elbowed him in the stomach. As Kakashi was recovering Tazuna continued,

"Let me start at the beginning and let me tell you of the man whom our entire village called a hero," Tazuna wiped his eyes,

"Hero?" Naruto voiced out loud as he listened to Tazuna,

"It was three years ago when Inari and that man first met. Some rotten brats were picking on my beloved grandson and made him cry, you see Inari used to have a dog that he had raised since it was a puppy but that day the bullies were threatening it. They threw him into the river and it started to drown, Inari was too scared to go in after it. While Inari was crying at the edge of the docks and watching the dog drown the bullies kicked him into the river but Inari can't swim you see. The dog conveniently learnt how to dog paddle at that moment, guess survival instincts kicked in but Inari was still drowning. The bullies went after the dog but Inari started to go under until someone pulled him out of the river and made sure that he was warm under he regained consciousness. That man his name was Kaiza, he was a fisherman that came to this land seeking his fortune. Inari stuck to him like glue after that and he became Inari's father down the road, he taught him how to be brave and stand up for himself, he became part of the family," Tazuna paused as if he were remembering something and Naruto was looking with a smile on his face at the story, "But then, we had a flood. One of the river gates had blown open, Kaiza volunteered to close them, he jumped into the river and swam through the flood to close the gates. After that the people here started to call Kaiza a hero, Inari was naturally proud to have such a father. Until Gato came to town,"

"Where the incident that you've alluded happened," Kakashi said after Tazuna paused once again and Lucy was tempted to elbow him once again. Tazuna started to shake,

"In front of the entire city, Kaiza was out to death," Tazuna said gravely, the three Genin's looked at him in shock while Lucy's and Kakashi's eyes hardened, "Inari was also there when it happened and ever since this town hasn't been the same. We've lost our courage," Tazuna finished and broke down again. Naruto was looking at the table with a determined expression before he suddenly stood up, only to fall over,

"Don't even think about training, you'll overuse your chakra and might end up killing yourself," Kakashi said,

"I'm going to prove to him that he's wrong," Naruto said as he stood up,

"To who, that what's wrong?" Sakura questioned as she finished scolding Naruto once again,

"I'm going to prove that heroes do exist," he said and stalked out of the room through the door and into the forest.

For the next six days everyone seemed to have their own routine, Naruto would train until he drops. Sasuke would train until he made sure Naruto wouldn't beat him in the time he took breaks. Sakura watched over Tazuna as he went about his daily life and by the watch, she means only watch, she didn't do anything else no matter how many times Lucy offered to show her other ways to use her chakra, considering she had the best chakra control. Kakashi was mostly resting, doing basic exercises to regain his strength and Lucy was overdoing it once again. In between healing the villagers, helping to build the bridge and making more farmland, she also had taken to looking into Zabuza Momochi and what he could be gaining from working for Gato and Lucy thinks that she might have found something.

Zabuza Momochi had been apart of the first attempt to overthrow the Mizukage, the hidden mist village was currently gathering funds for a second attempt, if Zabuza were to mooch off of someone like Gato he could potentially raise the funds on his own but he was still a rogue ninja. Why would a rogue, like Zabuza want to help the mist? Wasn't he one of the people that terrorised it? Lucy was still trying to put the pieces together.

On the sixth day everyone was sitting around the table having breakfast, well everyone except Naruto, "Naruto stayed out all night again, didn't he?" Tazuna asked out loud,

"Ever since you told us that story, he's been out there training night after night, that idiot," Sakura said and growled at the end as she sat down at the table, being the last one to wake up. Lucy quickly finished and placed her bowel in the sink before sitting next to Kakashi in the entrance of the room. She pulled out the scroll that Kakashi had gotten for her and re-read it for the umpteenth time that week, silently giving notes to Crux in case she missed anything.

"How's that scroll coming?" Kakashi asked her as the ignored the conversation in front of them,

"Good, in fact I think that once we get back, I just need to run a couple of things by the Hokage before I start trying," Lucy said as she cut the connection with Crux, "Crux has all of the information in his arsenal and I have many things to try and make a link to," she continued,

"Do you need any help?" He asked her,

"Well actually, a majority of these seals require them both to be present when I perform the jutsu but because I'm here and they're there I don't know how to create that link," Lucy said and crawled in between Kakashi's legs and pointed to a section on the scroll,

"I see, I might be able to find a loophole but I would need you to perform this same one before I can break it all down," he said as he looked over her shoulder to where she pointed,

"Alright, what can I link though? It needs to have significant value," Lucy wondered, "I suppose I can think about it once we get back,"

"I've been wondering something," Tazuna started and both Lucy and Kakashi looked at him, Lucy noticed that Sasuke was no longer sitting at the table, "what's the relationship between the two of you?" Tazuna asked them, Lucy and Kakashi looked at one another,

"What do you mean?" Lucy questioned,

"I mean it's obvious that you two are close but you don't look related," he said and Sakura butted in,

"Yeah, I mean, Sasuke said that Kakashi-Sensei was your guardian but that still doesn't explain what the relationship between the two of you is," she whined and Lucy sweatdropped at her,

"Well I was assigned to watch her when she came to the village, after all, she wasn't born here the Hokage wanted to make sure she could be trusted since she was adept in jutsu," Kakashi said,

"Yeah but now that the Hokage trusts me I can do whatever I want as long as it's within the village laws or I get permission," Lucy said,

"But then why are you still living with Kakashi-Sensei?" Sakura asked,

"Well for a couple of weeks I lived with Sasuke while I looked for somewhere else to stay but, in the end, Kakashi and I decided that I could stay with him," Lucy said and Sakura glared at Lucy with malice,

"I can't believe that you lived with my Sasuke," she shouted and Lucy just sighed in annoyance. Sakura kept going on and on in Lucy's ear until Lucy had, had enough,

"Sakura just shut up, Sasuke is not yours, not only that but you have absolutely no say in it what so ever. Sasuke and I are friends, I don't care about your apparent obsession with him. I only care about his well-being and let's be frank you don't make things any easier for him, so why don't you just be quiet about things that you don't understand or have any part in," Lucy raised her voice at Sakura and took a deep breath after, "I'm so sick and tired of you lashing out at me for no reason, I've tried to be nice, I've tried to help you even and I've treated you with respect even though you don't deserve it, the least you can do is stay out of my business," Lucy finalised as she stood up, "now I'm going to go make sure the boys are okay," she said and started walking out of the door.

Lucy grumbled as she walked into the forest in search of Naruto and Sasuke, coming into the clearing to see trees with scratch marks all over them Lucy concluded that Naruto was close by and expanded her senses in order to locate the boys. "Hey Lucy, look at how high I am now," Naruto yelled and Lucy looked up to see him on a branch at least three stories high,

"Training coming along great then," she shouted to him as he started to climb back down,

"Yeah, I reckon by tomorrow I'll have it down no problem," he said as he climbed down,

"That's great Naruto, I'm proud of you," she said and pat him on the head, "have you seen Sasuke?" She asked and Naruto started to grumble,

"Yeah, he came by not too long ago after I was talking to this boy who I thought was a girl. I swear he was prettier than Sakura," he said and his eyes bugged out of his head,

"So, you're both okay then?" She asked trying to change the subject,

"Hmm? Yeah, we're okay, I'm kind of hungry though," he said and his stomach grumbled. Lucy sweatdropped and told him that she would bring him something to eat so he could continue training.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy was training the next morning while keeping an eye on Sasuke and Naruto, both of them were up all night running up trees. Lucy had slept outside that night monitoring the boys, well that's the excuse she's using. Truth be told she just didn't want to deal with Sakura nor did she want to listen to Kakashi tell her to just ignore it. Lucy was done with letting Sakura treat her with disrespect, even Ino wasn't that bad.

Lucy felt the chakra of both Sakura and Kakashi coming their way and decided to run up a tree herself. She could see Sakura's lips moving as they came into the clearing and saw Naruto throw a kunai down to them,

"Hey, this high enough for you?" He yelled to the both of them as he lay on the branch that he was on, it was a couple of metres above the one he had been on the day before. Naruto stood up on the branch but appeared to have lost his balance and start to fall backwards, Sakura screamed and Kakashi panicked because he still wasn't healed enough to catch him. Naruto, however, was now standing upside down on the branch laughing at their reactions, "I got you guys good," he boasted before his feet left the branch and he started to panic as he fell before Lucy could move to help Sasuke ran up and caught him by his ankle. Sakura cheered from down below as Sasuke scolded Naruto but Sasuke started to add too much chakra into his feet and both Naruto and Sasuke started to fall.

Sakura was screaming once more but Lucy ran towards them and tackled them as they were mid-air and turned them so they wouldn't be hurt as they rolled on the ground. Lucy was now lying in the middle of both of them, "You boys okay?" She asked, face first in the dirt,

"Yeah," was all she heard before all three of them started laughing.

Lucy had walked back to the house with Kakashi and Sakura, the walk was silent as Sakura was avoiding Lucy and Lucy didn't take any notice of Sakura. "Are you sure you don't want me to heal you?" Lucy said once they were halfway back,

"I'm fine, I'm almost back to full strength anyway, by this time tomorrow I won't need the crutches," Kakashi said and waved her off,

"Okay but just to be sure I'm going to check you tomorrow morning before we head off to the bridge," she said and everything was silent once again until they walked into the house.

"196, 197, 198," Kakashi said a little while after they got back, he was currently doing push-ups with Tazuna and Sakura on his back while holding himself up with just one finger. If he was anyone else Lucy would have swooned,

"I keep meaning to ask, you know how I lied to you about the mission and how dangerous it was. So why do you stay?" Tazuna asked from his place on Kakashi's back,

"To know what is right but to choose to ignore it is the act of a coward, 199," Kakashi said and did another push-up,

"Like master like man," Lucy cut in while placing a fist into her open palm, "I know that quote, it's from the first Hokage," she continued,

"That's right, that is the way of shinobi. True shinobi don't just dance to the tune of whoever pays the piper," Kakashi said and both Tazuna and Sakura got up off of his back and he looked at his hand.

Later that night as everyone was settling in for dinner Naruto and Sasuke walk through the door leaning against one another and had dirt and scratches all over themselves, "You both looked like something the cat dragged in," Tazuna said to them both,

"We both made it to the top," Naruto said,

"Good, starting tomorrow Naruto and Sasuke can help Sakura guard Tazuna, Lucy will come later that day after she checks on the village," Kakashi said with a closed-eyed smile,

"Alright," Naruto yelled and threw his hands up in the air and made both himself and Sasuke fall over,

"Naruto you idiot," Sasuke groans out from under Naruto and this made everyone laugh at the two.

"I'm all dirty and sweaty from all of the work on the bridge today, but construction is almost complete," Tazuna said as both Sasuke and Naruto sat down to join them,

"father, you and Naruto are two of a kind, please take it easy, you don't want to work yourself to death," Tsunami stated as she set down a plate of food on the table. Lucy was smiling at Naruto, thinking about how far along he's come before the smile turned sad as she thought about how similar he was to Natsu. She looked away from him and saw Inari with tears welling up in his eyes as he looked at Naruto and was about to voice her concern when he stood up and started yelling,

"why do you even try? no matter how hard you try you'll never be a match for Gato's men. You act all cool and talk all tough but strong guys like that are always too much for people weaker than they are, they'll destroy you," everyone around the table looked startled at Inari's outburst except for Naruto who only scoffed,

"Shut up I'm not like you, I'm not gonna lose,"

"Just watching you make me sick, you go running your mouth when you don't know a thing. this isn't even your town and you don't know a thing about me. You're always clowning around and having fun, you don't know a thing about suffering or what loneliness or what my life is like," Inari kept shouting and Naruto looked down slightly so that the shadow from his headband covered his eyes. Lucy tensed up but didn't say anything,

"so, what, you figure it's okay to just walk around and act like you're the star of your own melodrama and treat everyone around you like they're guests at your pity party?" Naruto then snapped his head up and glared at Inari, "it really takes a big man to sit around and cry, you brat. You're just a big cry-baby," Naruto then got up and stalked away from the table as Inari sobbed,

"Naruto you went too far," Sakura shouted after him,

"Mind your own business Sakura," Lucy snapped and everyone turned to her in shock, including Inari,

"Lucy, calm yourself," Kakashi said, he knows that she had a harder time than the rest of the group during this mission, too many things hit too close to home,

"whatever, I'm going to bed," she grumbled and got up to stomp out of the room,

"at least finish eating," Sasuke called out after her, when she ignored him, he sighed and quickly scoffed his food and went to follow her. Sakura for once kept quiet, she did notice how this mission was affecting Lucy but she was overrun by jealousy that she kept trying to show her up. All it did was make her look childish though and make Sasuke mad at her.

Later that night Inari was sitting outside, "Do you mind if I sit?" Kakashi asked Inari, who was sitting out on the deck looking out at the ocean and crying, "you know they weren't trying to be mean, especially Naruto, he just lacks finesse and Lucy has been in many situations similar to yours and this town, helped a lot of them too," Inari just looked away, "Naruto grew up without a father same as you and Lucy's may as well have not been there himself," Inari tensed, "Actually Naruto grew up without any parents, he doesn't even have memories with either one, or have a single friend until Lucy came along. Naruto's whole life is a painful memory for him and Lucy's mother died when she was young her father started to neglect her after it because of his grief. But in all of the time that I've known Naruto, I've never seen him cry or use his troubles as an excuse to sulk or be a coward, not once and while I've seen Lucy cry I've never seen her give up or let her grief stop her from what she feels is right," Kakashi explained to Inari who was now looking at him with wonderment, "Naruto tries his hardest hoping someone will notice and give him encouragement of some kind, that's his dream and he's risked his life for it. Lucy trains every day for her dream, her dream is to find the people that mean the most to her and go on adventures with them again,"

Inari looked down at this and thought of his father while Kakashi still kept his eyes trained on the small boy, "I think that they just got tired of crying, they both understand what it means to be strong, they both know the cost and what it's worth. Just like your father did, Naruto probably knows and understands how you feel better than the rest of us," Inari looked up in shock a this,

"what?" Inari spluttered,

"He won't just leave you alone, because you've gotten under his skin," Kakashi said and gave him a closed-eyed smile and went back inside. he walked closer to the kitchen and saw that Sakura was the only one still sitting there, "Sakura," he called out and she looked up at him in surprise,

"Kakashi-sensei?" she asked back in confusion,

"I think it's time we have a talk about Lucy," he said and sat across from her at the table. Sakura huffed and crossed her arms over her chest,

"Why am I the only one getting scolded?" she huffed, "she yelled at me too you know," she remained stubborn and Kakashi internally sighed, mentally relieved that Lucy was actually in her twenties and didn't act so childish. Mostly.

"I'm not scolding you I'm just here to give you some advice as your sensei," he said, "Lucy has been through a lot in her life and has worked endlessly to get to where she is. It's just frustrating for her to see and hear you speak of something like they don't matter when she would do almost anything to be able to live the way you do," Sakura looked at Kakashi in surprise, "Lucy lost her mother when she was very young and after that her father threw himself into his work and lost sight of what was important. She was alone for almost her entire childhood and when she sees you bagging on Naruto or trying to tell her that she can't be friends with Sasuke it brings her back to that time with her father," Sakura looked down at this, "I think Lucy sees some people from her past in them. That's why she coddles them the way she does, making sure they study or have lunch, watches them train and cleans their injuries. Lucy wants to make sure that they get the care that she didn't get while she was growing up," Kakashi told Sakura and he watched as shame filtered through the almost teenage girl's eyes, "well I'm going to bed, don't be up for too much longer, we have a big day tomorrow," he said and left the pinkette to her thoughts.

 **Time Skip**

The next morning everyone besides for Naruto and Lucy was outside ready to escort Tazuna to the bridge, "Please take care of Naruto, he's worn himself out. I doubt he'll be able to move for the rest of the day," Kakashi said as he looked at Tsunami,

"Please take care, everyone," Tsunami said to them and they all waved to her as they left. Once everyone had left and Tsunami was doing the dishes when she heard a yell,

"Hello? Where'd everyone go?" he yelled and ran into the room in his pyjamas,

"Naruto, what are you doing up? Kakashi-sensei wanted you to take the day off," Tsunami answered him and he quickly ran back out of the room,

"Oh, I knew it, first chance they get they leave me behind, I'm out of here," he yelled out as he changed into his clothes and ran out of the door. Naruto was jumping through the trees when he noticed something and stopped for a second, "what's that?" He asked out loud.

Meanwhile, Tazuna and most of team 7 arrived at the bridge and saw all of the workers lying on the ground, "What happened here?" Tazuna asked stunned and ran to the closest man lying on the ground,

"M-Monsters," he gasped out as blood started to drip from the corner of his mouth.

Kakashi glared and looked around, his head shot up when he noticed that mist was starting to settle in, _'dammit, just what I needed, Lucy you better be on your way,'_ "they're coming," he shouted to everyone and Sasuke and Sakura brought out a kunai and held it in front of them, _'I was right, he survived and he's coming back to finish things,'_

"this is Zabuza's mist jutsu isn't it?" Sakura asked Kakashi and Sasuke started shaking,

"been a while, Kakashi and I see you've still got those brats tagging along, oh but what's this where is that little blonde, I was looking forward to a rematch with that one and look that one is shaking again. Poor thing," Zabuza said into the mist and three water clones surrounded Sasuke,

"I'm shaking with excitement," Sasuke smirked,

"Go ahead Sasuke," Kakashi said with a closed-eyed smile and Sasuke slashed through the water clones and they dispersed around them creating puddles,

"Well it seems that those brats have matured, so how about it Haku?" Zabuza said although he didn't sound the least bit impressed with the improvement,

"Indeed," came from the masked ninja softly, he did sound impressed with the progress,

"Looks like I was right, it was all an act. With a cute little mask," Kakashi said mockingly,

"He has some nerve facing us like this," Sakura scoffed out,

"And hiding behind a mask, who does he think he's fooling," Kakashi said lightly,

"Speak for yourself sensei," Sakura grumbled back,

"This one is mine," Sasuke said and Sakura gasped at him, "Who does he think he's fooling, hiding behind a mask like some sort of clown," he repeated after Kakashi,

"Sasuke, you're so cool," Sakura squealed and Kakashi deadpanned at her.

Haku suddenly started spinning and Sasuke looked surprised before he swung his kunai at Haku defensively, they both spun around and clashed kunai again. Zabuza looked slightly surprised and Kakashi looked interested,

"Sakura, we have to cover Tazuna, take that side and stay close, let Sasuke handle Haku," Kakashi yelled out and ran in front of them,

"Right," Sakura called back and ran in front of Tazuna.

Sasuke and Haku were exchanging words with one another, from the indication of Sasuke's lips moving, although he could be talking to himself. No one really knows because of the mask that Haku was wearing, the both of them were at a standstill with their kunai pressed against one another when suddenly Haku started performing one handed hand signs,

"I've never seen this before," Kakashi gasped out and Haku slammed one of his feet on the ground and the water around him started to lift into the air and take the form of needles,

"Sasuke," Sakura shouted in worry, the needles started to move towards Sasuke and he closed his eyes and tried to focus chakra into his feet. The water needles crashed down upon them and Haku moved out of the way, only to look back at the space he was once in the see that Sasuke was no longer there,

"Where did he...?" Haku trailed off and jumped back to avoid being hit with shuriken,

"You're not that fast, now you're the one who should worry about defending yourself from my attacks," Sasuke said in a smug tone and appeared behind Haku with a kunai in his hand. Sasuke swung his kunai and Haku managed to block it with his own before he ducked down to avoid the kunai Sasuke let out of his hand but couldn't dodge the kick that Sasuke sent his way. Haku went flying back in the direction of Zabuza and skidded to a stop, "You're fast but I'm faster," Sasuke said mockingly, _'Maybe now I can finally keep up with Lucy during training,'_ he silently thought to himself after that and smirked at finally being able to land a hit on the younger blonde, _'beating Lucy means that I am one step closer to achieving my goal,'_

"You made a mistake at calling my team brats, he may not look like it but Sasuke here is the top rookie from the Leaf village. Sakura here is our sharpest mind and last but not least, is the number one knuckleheaded ninja, Naruto Uzumaki," Kakashi said to Zabuza,

"but what about that blonde girl you had with you last time? Is she not one of your students?" Zabuza asked and everyone looked back towards Kakashi,

"That girl is no brat, in fact, she is probably on the same level as me. If it weren't for the fact that she had a kind heart you would have been taken out the last time," Kakashi said in a threating tone, "she won't let you off so easy this time I can assure you," with those words Zabuza started laughing,

"Haku, do you understand what this means? if this goes on you could end up dying at the very person you sought to spare?" Sasuke tensed up at these words and Haku stood up,

"Yes, I do, what a shame," he said softly like he was disappointed, Haku started to concentrate his chakra and the air suddenly became cold, making an unknown hand sign the water that surrounded Sasuke started to rise. Only this time it seemed to get colder the more it rose above the ground, the water moved until it combined and started to crystallise. They froze as they caged Sasuke inside and everyone started to panic,

 _'I've never seen this jutsu,'_ Kakashi thought, Sakura started to sweat as Haku stepped into his frozen mirrors. Haku's image appeared in every frozen mirror, Kakashi dashed forwards only to be stopped by Zabuza,

"Let's not forget, I'm your enemy. Let's let the children play, while my boy kills yours," Zabuza said mockingly,

 _'No,'_ Kakashi thought desperately, suddenly needles were being thrown at Sasuke and everyone could hear him scream in pain,

"Sasuke" both Sakura and Kakashi yelled,

"Take any sudden movements and I'll kill those other two," Zabuza said to Kakashi,

 _'Dammit Lucy, what's taking you so long?'_ Kakashi thought to himself in frustration, not knowing what to do.

"I'm sorry, Mr Tazuna but I'm going to have to leave your side for a while," Sakura said,

"go ahead, I'll be fine," Tazuna said to her as Sasuke screamed out once again in pain. Sakura grabbed a kunai out of her pouch and jumped into the air. She threw the kunai towards Sasuke but Haku slid out of one of his frozen mirrors and caught it only to have a shuriken hit him in his masked face. Haku fell out of the mirrors and slid across the bridge floor, everyone looked over towards them confused besides Sasuke and Haku who knew who showed up.

"Number one knuckleheaded ninja," Haku whispered,

"Naruto Uzumaki, at your service," said the blonde prankster as he appeared on the bridge.

 **With Lucy**

Lucy was healing one of the children in the village when she saw Inari run by, "Please someone, anyone, help me fight at the bridge," he shouted as he ran and Lucy quickly grew worried and ran after him,

"Inari, what's going on?" she asked and pulled him to a stop once she caught up to him,

"Gato's men arrived, they are going to ambush the bridge, Naruto just saved my mum from being taken by them," he said, "I want to help, this is my town and I want to fight for it," he said before running off to look for someone to help him. Lucy smiled as she watched him run off,

"looks like you proved him wrong Naruto," she whispered before she asked Virgo for her ANBU uniform, _'Hope Kakashi doesn't mind me being a little late to the bridge but it's finally time to do some digging,'_ she thought to herself as she jumped away into the forest looking for Gato and his men.

Lucy was jumping through the trees in her ANBU uniform, with her guild mark and forehead protector hidden, she couldn't risk the Akatsuki finding out about her alliance to the leaf nor could she risk anyone knowing about the full strength of her abilities. Her dojutsu was hidden by her mask and her Aquarius mark was hidden by her uniform, she always activated her Aquarius mark in her ANBU uniform; it did have extra chakra stored away so she could use both her dojutsu and taijutsu style. Snapping out of her thoughts Lucy abruptly stopped in her tracks when she saw a group of about 500 men all with weapons walking through the forest looking pumped up and ready for a fight. Lucy stayed quiet in order to hear what some of them were saying,

"Can you believe how much that rich snob is willing to pay us to take down this crummy town?" one of the young men shouted excitedly, he couldn't have been older than 16,

"I know, rich people sure are idiots," his friend agreed, they looked to be the same age. At this Lucy had heard enough and trailed the line of men all the way to the end then followed their chakra signatures to where they came from. Finding an old shack Lucy walked through the door and noticed that everything looked like it had been recently furnished, continuing with her search she found an office with a huge chair sitting behind a desk, _'Napoleon complex much?'_ she wondered to herself as she started to rifle through Gato's paperwork, she took all of the legal business papers for herself to look through later but didn't even bother to touch the others, _'if that piggy little man survives this, I'll need these to get him locked up in prison,'_ Lucy thought as she collected everything that she needed and left to follow the line of men.


	18. Chapter 18

"Naruto Uzumaki, here to save the day, you know how the story goes. Just when things look hopeless, the hero will arrive," Naruto boasted as he stood there in the middle of the bridge making a big scene, "and then pow bye-bye bad guys,"

 _'That stupid, insufferable little. What we needed was an ambush, now he's got a target practically painted in between his eyes,'_ Kakashi thought annoyed,

"Naruto," Sakura called out excitingly, it was at that moment that Zabuza threw a bunch of shuriken at Naruto, only the have Haku block them with his throwing needles, surprising everyone.

"Haku, what are you doing?" Zabuza asked,

"Please let me fight them in my own way, let me handle this," Haku said as he stood up,

"So, you want me to keep my hands off of him, huh? How naïve of you, as usual," Zabuza replied. Sasuke got a thoughtful look on his face as he stared at his wounds and then looked at Haku,

 _'that guy, naïve? Look at me, it's like he's cutting me into pieces, bit by bit, saving the vital blows for last.'_ Sasuke started to glare as he came up with a plan, _'whatever is going on these mirrors must be the key, looks like my only chance is to concentrate on the battle and trust that Naruto can get me out from the outside,'_ Sasuke thought with satisfaction but that satisfaction didn't last long,

"hey Sasuke I came in here to rescue you," Naruto said from beside Sasuke and Sasuke started yelling at Naruto,

"You're such an idiot and you call yourself a ninja?" Sasuke kept yelling, until Naruto had, had enough,

"this is the thanks I get when I risk my life for you? Last time I do that," Naruto shouted back at Sasuke. Kakashi sweatdropped at Naruto's actions before turning back to glare at Zabuza. It was at this time that Haku made his way back into his frozen mirrors. Sasuke was about to throw a kunai at the mirror that Haku had stepped into.

"Over here," Haku called out from behind them and Sasuke turned around in shock before he started to make a series of hand signs,

"Fire style: fireball jutsu," Sasuke yelled out and let out a ball of fire but when the fire cleared the mirrors were still standing there as cold and as frozen as before,

"Not even a dent," Naruto said in amazement,

"that flame won't be able to melt my mirrors of ice," Haku mocked and Sasuke grunted in frustration, Haku started to throw needles once again.

"Multi-shadow clone jutsu," Naruto shouted when he couldn't figure out which Haku was the rea one,

"Wait, Naruto," Sasuke tried to stop him but Naruto already had his clones jump towards all of the mirrors only to have needles thrown through them all and disperse. Haku kicked the original Naruto down when he got close enough to the mirrors, the smoke from the shadow clones dispersed and Sasuke saw that the mirrors are still intact.

"This jutsu I'm using is a teleportation technique and the only tool I need to perform it is the mirrors that hold my image, I move so quickly, the pair of you might as well be standing still," Haku explained to them,

"Well I never imagined that anyone could master a technique like this so young," Kakashi said out loud,

"What type of technique is it Sensei?" Sakura questioned,

"It's a kekkei Genkai, a skill that can only be passed down from one generation to the next, otherwise known as a bloodline limit. Something that can only be genetically inherited," Kakashi explained,

"Wait a minute but that means," Sakura trailed off,

"That's right, it's at the same level as my Sharingan eye, but even my eye cannot copy or break this kids jutsu," Kakashi replied and Sakura tensed up as silence filled the air.

"I can't go down here, not like this, I've still got a dream to fulfil," Naruto yelled out from his place kneeling on the ground in the middle of the ice prison. Haku hesitated as he looked at Naruto's face,

"I… I find it difficult to embrace the life and way of a shinobi," Haku started and was about to continue before he was interrupted,

"You think you're the only one?" A voice shouted from above them and a small blonde girl landed in the middle of the bridge, directly in between the Ice walls and where Zabuza was standing.

"Lucy," Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi yelled out in surprise. Said girl held her halberd in a defensive position, her clothes all bloodied and ripped, her face had dirt all over it and she was looking at Zabuza intensively with a file in her hand,

"You need to stop trying to go after the bridge builder, you're not going to get what you want from Gato either way," Lucy said firmly,

"What would you know, girl?" Zabuza growled out aggressively,

"I know the real reason why you went rogue, I also know the reason why you're doing jobs like this in the first place. This job won't get you anywhere, Gato is planning to double-cross you in order to save cash. I just came from defeating a majority of his underpaid army," Lucy explained, Zabuza's eyes widened and Haku dropped his guard, "there's no point in continuing this fight, leave now," Lucy warned them,

"ha, that's not happening, thanks to your warning I can finish my job and then kill Gato myself," Zabuza said and Lucy internally sighed in frustration, silently asking Virgo to store away the file Lucy started to asses the situation.

"Kakashi, I've got the boys, you stay here with the bridge builder and Sakura," she said and jumped into the air and coated her foot with chakra and brought it down upon the top of the ice walls, Lucy managed to smash through the top one and landed in between Sasuke and Naruto.

"Wow," Naruto exclaimed loudly,

"Well that's the first time someone has managed to break through my ice," Haku said as another ice mirror formed itself above them, "but can you break them as fast as I can make them?" Haku asked,

"Why did you get yourself trapped in here with us? You could have destroyed them from the outside while we distracted him," Sasuke yelled at her,

"because you boys are my first priority, Kakashi and Sakura are looking after Tazuna, while that's happening, I have to make sure you two make it out of this alive," Lucy said and left no room for arguments.

"I would prefer not to kill the three of you," Haku said and startled the three of them, "However, if you are going to come at me, then I will have no choice but to act as a full-fledged shinobi and aim to kill," he said and attempted to throw needles once again but Lucy made quick hand signs,

"Wind Style: Spinning Shield," she shouted and a burst of wind surrounded herself and the boys, spinning rapidly and reflected all of the needles back towards Haku but got lodged in the mirrors,

"You may prove to be a challenge," Haku said, "please try not to resent me but I'm willing to do whatever it takes in order to protect the one dearest to me, to fight, to kill or to do die to fulfil that person's dreams. I will become a full-fledged shinobi," Haku said to them and the boys started to smirk while Lucy impatiently tapped her shoe on the ground,

"Hello, didn't you hear a word I said to Zabuza? Fighting is pointless," Lucy yelled out frustrated but no one seemed to hear her,

"Come on, you three, don't lose to a guy like that," Sakura shouted towards them and you could vaguely hear Kakashi scold her, "Kakashi-Sensei, what can we do?" they heard Sakura yell out and Lucy guessed that Kakashi was trying to prepare Sakura for a worst-case scenario. Haku's jutsu is a part of his kekkei Genkai and he's been through intensive training since early childhood, even if they figured out how to undo Haku's jutsu faster than Lucy could move the boys wouldn't have the skill nor the experience to back up a strategy. Lucy was already tired from fighting a hundred odd men just before she showed up, her chakra was getting low and Lucy knew that in order for her to be able to defeat Haku and protect the boys she would need to call out a spirit.

"Open Gate of the twins, Gemini," Lucy called out and Naruto began to look excited while Haku and Sasuke stared in amazement as a golden glow appeared from the key that Lucy now held in her hand and two small blue creatures popped out,

"Piri, Piri, pikiri," they said cutely as they danced around Lucy's head,

"Hello miss Lucy," Gemi said,

"It's been too long," continued Mini,

"Hello you two, I need you to transform into me and guard the boys," Lucy said firmly and they both flew towards one another before touching hands. They blew up in smoke and when it cleared a version of Lucy in her ANBU uniform without her mask on appeared,

"We're on it," they shouted in her voice and stood in front of the two boys with a kunai in each hand,

"This is quite peculiar," Haku whispered,

"Well if Lucy's going to step up her game, I suppose I shall as well," Kakashi said and placed a hand on his forehead protector, "you'll forgive me if I put an end to this," he snarled at Zabuza,

"Hah, using the same old tricks huh?" Zabuza replied, bringing out a kunai and thrusting it towards Kakashi's Sharingan eye. Kakashi brought up his other hand to shield it,

"You say that but you're actually scared of this eye," Kakashi said while still using his hand to block the kunai,

"A ninjas secret weapon shouldn't be used so carelessly, to every foe you face for everyone to see," Zabuza said,

"You should feel privileged, no one has seen the Sharingan twice and no one will ever see it thrice," Kakashi replied,

"Ha, then, by all means, defeat me, but you still won't have what it takes to kill Haku. Since he was a toddler, he's been training under me, I've beaten skills into him. He's always prevailed no matter the situation, he's lost all regard for his own life and become a killing machine, a true shinobi. That boys, skills surpass even my own and he bears within him the formidable legacy of the inherited kekkei Genkai. And so, I carry with me a weapon of mass destruction, while you have those useless brats that follow you around like lost dogs," Zabuza pulled out the kunai from Kakashi's hand

"huh, I may be no match for the kid but Lucy is on an entirely different level, now isn't there anything more boring than listening to someone else brag? Let's go," Kakashi said and pulled up his forehead protector, to show his blazing Sharingan,

"might you allow me one more boast? You turned a very pretty phrase at our last encounter, frankly, I've been dying to steal it. It went something like this, just so you know, the same trick won't work on me twice," This brought Kakashi's guard up, "Now that I've seen it in action, I now understand of the workings of your mirror eye. There was more to our battle than the defeat I permitted you to hand me, Haku who was hiding nearby observed and studied every aspect of our fight," after Zabuza said that he performed a couple of hand signs and started to disappear.

Kakashi started to look around and snapped his head to the side and deflected a dozen kunai that had been thrown at him,

"well you deflected those quite nicely, I expected nothing less from you," Zabuza said and appeared behind Kakashi. Kakashi turned to him and looked surprised to see that his eyes were closed,

 _'_ _Damn, I've only ever seen Lucy do this and I didn't bother to think of a countermeasure,'_ Kakashi thought to himself,

"You overestimate the value of your Sharingan," Zabuza said ominously and Kakashi grew confused as Zabuza started to disappear once again, "You pretend that you can see all with that eye but your so-called prediction came out false our last encounter, you can neither read my mind nor see into the future, in other words, your Sharingan is just an elaborate hoax. A trick you play in order to throw off your opponents, more precisely, it combines the clarity of perception and insight on your own part with the ability to hypnotise those around you. Using those skills in concert you are able to create your own illusions through a combination of mimicry from the movement, to the thoughts, to the skills of those you fight. Prancing around like you can see into the future, analysed my superficial movements, copy them and use the rapidity of the turn around to induce fear and insecurity. Once you are able to see into my heart and mind you calculate what I'm going to say to freak me out, you then calculate when my fear reaches a certain point then use genjutsu to trick me into signalling what technique I'll use, all you have to do then is copy it," Zabuza explained and Kakashi started to get nervous,

"Once I knew that it was pretty simple to come up with a countermeasure," Zabuza bragged as he hit Kakashi in the stomach and Kakashi went flying back, "First I conceal myself to neutralise your visual abilities, then close my own eyes so your genjutsu won't affect me,"

"But then what about your eyes? You can't see either,"

"Did you forget, I am trained in the silent killing technique. I can rely on sound alone,"

 _'_ _Damn, I've been so focused on the Genin I hadn't considered how long it's been since I had to fight like this, the last time was when Lucy was captured and she did all of the hard work. I've got to calm down, where will he appear next,'_ Kakashi thought to himself then snapped his head to the side towards where Sakura and Tazuna were standing, quickly appearing in between Zabuza and Tazuna just as Zabuza started to swing his sword downwards. Sakura screamed as Zabuza cut through Kakashi.

Inside the ice prison, Gemini was still defending the boys while Lucy was trying to quickly break the ice mirrors but they just appeared as fast as they were taken down, "That was Sakura's voice," Naruto shouted in worry and Sasuke tensed,

 _'_ _Damn Kakashi, get your head in the game will you, I'm running on empty over here,'_ Lucy thought to herself and looked towards where the boys were to see that some of the needles had managed to hit Naruto, _'If this keeps up I'm going to have to use Urano Metria to break the ice, but then the boys will be wide open for an attack,'_ She continued.

Sasuke suddenly jumped towards Naruto and pushed him out of the way of an oncoming attack from Haku, Gemini was hit and disappeared back into the spirit realm. Sasuke looked up after the two of them had landed and Lucy's eyes widened, Sasuke's eyes were glaring at Haku with the signature red iris and black coma markings, he had two coma markings in one of his eyes and one in the other, "Sharingan," Lucy whispered,

"I see, you to have a kekkei Genkai," Haku said from within his mirrors, "I cannot let this fight continue, my own technique forces me to expand a great deal of chakra, so there is a limit to how long I can keep using it," Haku explained, "Especially since it seems that the longer we fight the more you can perceive my movements," he gestured towards Lucy and Sasuke, "it's time to end this," he said and left his mirror and shot himself towards Naruto, both Lucy and Sasuke panicked before taking off to dive in front of Naruto, naturally Lucy made it there first but she didn't have enough time to create a jutsu so she closed her eyes and waited for the impact.

Meanwhile, Kakashi grabbed his new wound across his chest and groaned in pain, "Kakashi-Sensei," Sakura called out,

"You were too slow Kakashi, your desire to save those brats you to lose focus, even with that eye your ability to read my movements has been neutralised. I'm going to enjoy this, don't worry about those brats that Haku is fighting either, they'll join you in the afterlife soon enough," Zabuza bragged,

"Sasuke won't be defeated so easily, neither will Naruto, and Lucy is gonna kick that masked kids butt," Sakura cried out,

"You're right," Kakashi declared from in front of her and everyone looked at him in surprised, "I have faith in them, Naruto and his unpredictability and Sasuke is one of the worthiest heirs to the most superior clan in the Leaf village,"

"You don't mean," Zabuza started,

"That's right, his full name is Sasuke Uchiha, he is a ninja genius, who carries the kekkei Genkai of the Uchiha clan,"

"So, he's the sole surviving member of that clan, huh, so he may be Haku's equal. No one has ever penetrated the secret of Haku's jutsu until now," with that Zabuza disappeared into thin air once again,

"Sakura doesn't move an inch, I'll finish this as quickly as I can," Kakashi took a step forward, "Do you truly believe that after all the hardships that I've had to endure that the Sharingan is my only tool? I too was once a member of a ninja assassin corps, I'll show you what kind of shinobi I used to be, this isn't something I learned with the Sharingan, let me show you my own creation," Kakashi said as he slowly took his hand away from his wound.

Naruto groaned and opened his eyes and saw that Haku was lying on the ground a few feet away from him, "wow Lucy, Sasuke you," Naruto started but he looked up to find that Sasuke was standing in front of both himself and Lucy,

"no matter how many times I warn you, you still manage to get in my way," Sasuke coughed out blood, "you have such a lame expression on your stupid face, you idiot," he said amusedly and looked back at the two of them, Lucy's eyes were wide with shock,

"Sasuke," Lucy called out and grabbed him by the shoulders to steady him,

"Why?" Naruto whispered,

"I used to hate you, you know,"

"Why did you? You should have just minded your own business," Naruto shouted,

"How should I know? My body just moved on its own," Sasuke fell and Lucy laid his head in her lap,

"Just relax Sasuke, I'm going to try and heal you but you have to stay awake for me," Lucy tried to coo at him and he hands started to glow green, her eyes activated so that she could see inside of his body and assess the damage, Naruto came up beside them and knelt down next to Sasuke,

"I swore I wouldn't die, not until I kill him, my older brother. Naruto, don't you let your dream die," Sasuke said and his eyes closed,

"Sasuke," Lucy shouted as she started to push more chakra into his wounds, "Sasuke, stay with me," she said firmly and continued but for some reason, his wounds weren't the problem. Naruto had tears welling up in his eyes as he stared at Sasuke,

"He struck one blow at me and without thinking sacrificed himself for you, he was a shinobi worthy of the utmost respect. Who in order to protect the people he cared for, threw himself in what he knew was a trap," Haku said as he started to stand, Lucy's eyes filled with tears in frustration at not being able to find the problem,

"Is this the first time that you've lost a comrade in battle?" Haku asked, "this is the path to all ninja," he said as he stepped back into his mirrors,

"Shut up," Naruto said as chakra began to well up inside of him,

"Naruto calm down," Lucy tried to say but her voice cracked. Naruto glared up at Haku with his eyes all red, with a slit of black running through them and his whisker birthmarks straightened out like a feral animal. Red chakra began to swirl around him and take a form.

 _'_ _it's so dark, it's like the air around him is toxic,'_ Lucy thought to herself, _'is this really what's been inside of Naruto all this time?'_ She continued to think in worry, Naruto clenched his fists as the chakra took the form of a fox that towered above everyone in rage. His fingernails grew long and his body started to heal itself. It was then that Naruto shot himself forward and attacked Haku, Haku retaliated and threw needles towards Naruto but it was only deflected by the amount of chakra that was exuded from within Naruto's body. Haku jumped above Naruto as he charged towards him and attempted to hit him once again with a needle but Naruto evaded them and skid to a stop. Haku tried to move towards the next mirror but Naruto hit him to the side as he attempted to move past Naruto.

Naruto glared at Haku, who was sat on the ground, and started to yell out as chakra seeped from out him even more, the chakra was so dense that it started to melt the ice. Lucy was only looking at Sasuke, trying to figure out why he wasn't waking up. When Lucy started to concentrate on where the needles had pierced inside of Sasuke, there were several in his chest and neck the rest were riddled throughout his arm and legs, none of them was fatal. _'so why aren't you waking up?'_ Lucy thought and furrowed her brow, "wait a minute, all of this point are places that I puncture with my taijutsu style," she realised and her eyes widened, "Naruto stop, Sasuke is going to be okay, don't kill Haku," she shouted, but Naruto had punched Haku and cracked his mask, Haku flew through one of his mirrors and landed outside of his prison, Naruto moved to follow him, "Naruto stop," Lucy yelled and placed one of her coats that she asked Virgo to bring out and lay Sasuke's head on it, before following Naruto.

Haku's masked fell off of his face as Naruto came upon him once again and he stopped as his fist was about to hit Haku's face, "you're the kid that I met this morning," Naruto said and clenched his fist tighter, he started to shake.

 _'_ _What is this?'_ Kakashi thought to himself, _'is it Zabuza? No this is different, familiar. It couldn't be, is the seal broken?'_ he continued to think in panic, _'no, we're safe for now, I have to act quickly,'_ Kakashi brought out a scroll and smeared his blood across it, "listen to me Zabuza, we are both busy people and it goes against the grain to even suggest this but what do you say that we stop screwing around and wrap this up. One big move, winner takes all," he said bluntly and the scroll was thrown into the air as it rolled itself up again, Kakashi caught it and make multiple hand signs.

"I am intrigued, why don't you show me what you've got, Kakashi?" Zabuza said into the mist. Kakashi slammed his hands onto the ground, "this will get you nowhere Kakashi, you can't even tell where I am. While I know exactly where you are and exactly how to defeat you, you are exactly where I want you," Zabuza bragged and made a hand sign but was too slow and something came up from the ground and grabbed onto his leg. Looking down it was a dog that had locked his jaws onto Zabuza, more dogs shot up from the ground and latched onto the demon of the mist.

"what is that?" Tazuna asked while Sakura was still standing in front of him with a kunai in her hands sweating and looking around,

"When your eyes and ears have you let down, you can always follow your nose," Kakashi said in Zabuza's direction, "it worked because you shut your eyes in the mist, this jutsu is specifically designed for tracking, it's why I wasn't concerned about bleeding a bit during our conversations before, my ninja dogs couldn't miss it, the smell of my blood is all over you and your weapons. My dogs are trained to follow only mine and Lucy's smell wherever it may be and you stink of me," Kakashi explained, "Now that the fog is lifting, I can see your future, your future is death," he said menacingly and looked at Zabuza with only his Sharingan eye open.

"Why did you stop?" Haku asked Naruto as they both stood still, Lucy had just gotten to them, "I murdered your comrade, your friend and you still spare me?" Haku whispered to Naruto and Naruto looked back at Sasuke to see that he no longer had needles sticking out of him and his blood was dried up on no longer existing wounds. Naruto turned towards Haku and punched him once again, Haku spits out blood as Naruto started to breathe unevenly. Lucy was watching the two to see what would happen, "you've lost the anger that you had before, what did you hope to kill me with the power that you have now," Haku wiped his face, "people often believe that showing mercy is a kindness, they're wrong. They spare the foe whose life is in their hands but don't you see? It's an empty existence, to go on living alone and unloved, when defeat's already cost you your dream," Haku smiled as Naruto began to grow confused, "Zabuza has no use of a weak shinobi, you've taken away my reason for living,"

"you would waste such devotion to that creep? That mercenary scumbag doesn't care who he works for or who gets hurt, just so someone pays him. Is that guy seriously that precious to you? Your beloved friend?" Naruto shouted in anguish and Lucy stared at the pair with sorrow as Haku told them how he came to be with Zabuza, "Master Zabuza adopted me, knowing I came from a clan bloodline. The very thing that made everyone else hates me, he didn't just overlook it, he cherished it and wanted it, it made me so happy," Haku explained to them and Naruto understood everything that he said, he looked at Haku as if he was looking into a mirror, "Naruto, please take my life," Haku said and both Naruto and Lucy froze.

"What is with you? You're used to being the toughest I get that, but wanting to die just because you lost is crazy," Naruto yelled, "there's more to life than just fighting, there's more to you. Your boss must like you for more than your skills, right?"

"that day I met you in the forest, I remember thinking that we were two of a kind, surely you can understand," Haku tried to convince him, "you'll have to bloody your hands, forgive me for that,"

"Is this really the only way? No other outcomes?" Naruto asked him and Lucy started to panic,

"yes," Haku said and Naruto took out a kunai, "I hope you find your dream," Haku said to him and Lucy looked back and forth between the two,

"Sasuke had a dream too," Naruto looked over at Sasuke, "If we had met some other way, someplace else, we'd probably be friends," Naruto started running towards Haku,

"Thank you," Haku said as Naruto drew near,

"Naruto stop, don't kill him," Lucy yelled and started to focus her chakra into her feet but Haku stilled and grabbed Naruto's hand,

"I'm sorry Naruto, but I can't die yet," he said and made a hand sign and disappeared, Lucy almost relaxed until she heard a loud familiar chirping sound.

 _'_ _he couldn't be'_ she thought and pushed chakra into her feet again and pushed herself to where Kakashi and Zabuza were fighting, just as Haku appeared in between them Lucy appeared in front of Haku. Blood splat over everyone as Kakashi's eyes widened in shock and despair, Lucy was standing in front of him and he had his hand through her stomach, barely grazing Haku who stood directly behind her,

"Why," Haku whispered, Lucy coughed out blood,

"No, no," Kakashi repeated as he began to shake, _'this can't be real, please not again,'_ he panicked as his shaking became violent and uncontrollable tears came into his eyes,

"Kakashi," Lucy whispered as she brought her hands up to hold his arm, "everything will be okay," she smiled at him and tilted her head slightly, Sakura gasped loudly and tears began to well in her eyes, Tazuna's eyes widened and he stared in shock,

"you said that my future was death, but it seems you missed again, Kakashi," Zabuza laughed, Haku was silently staring at where Lucy was in front of him,

 _'_ _why? Why give your life for me? A mere tool? You seemed so loved and full of life, so passionate, why?'_ Haku thought and Lucy became limp on Kakashi's arm.

 **Fairytail's POV**

It has been almost four years since Lucy went missing and Levy had more questions then answers, the only thing that she is certain of is that Lucy is alive. Herself and Freed were officially stuck, they couldn't figure out how the other markings connected to the start that rested above the circle with a cross through it. It was almost like it wasn't originally meant to be there but Levy and Freed even considered that, it made even less sense than before.

Levy was currently sitting in the room that the guild members had put together in honour of Lucy, it was a research and Library hub. There was a whole section dedicated to celestial magic and knowledge that Yukino had helped put together. The thunder legion had sectioned off a part of the room that held all of the information about Lucy's disappearance and any of the cave walls that had markings on them. Freed had placed runes around it so that no one could get in unless himself or Levy gave them permission.

"Come on shrimp, you should be resting," Gajeel said as he walked into the room that Levy was frequently in,

"I know, it's just, I feel I'm so close to making a breakthrough. Like I'm only missing one thing to make it all fit," Levy replied as she looked over the cave pieces and remembered when she first found a link between the markings and her best friends' disappearance.

 _Flashback start_

 _"Natsu, Gajeel does anything smell like Lucy to you?" Levy asked as the three of them and the two male exceeds of the guild walked towards the place where Lucy disappeared from,_

 _"No, it's been too long, besides this place has already been thoroughly searched by not only Fairytail but Sabertooth and even the magic council," Gajeel grumbled and Natsu started to sniff the ground as they walked just in case,_

 _"Yes, I know but didn't you see the markings on the wall the first time we were here?" Levy questioned both dragon slayers and they both just looked at her in confusion, "honestly," Levy grumbled before she pulled out the book that she had been holding close to her since they had left the guild, "last time we were here I noticed that there were marks on the walls of the cave, since then me and Freed have been trying to decipher what they might mean. We finally hit a breakthrough looking into the spatial and space-time magic area. Lu's magic is a form of spatial magic after all so that might be why she was the only one affected on that job," Levy explained,_

 _"so, what exactly do the markings mean then?" Gajeel asked trying to move along the conversation, Natsu was being uncharacteristically quiet but that was how he usually was now whenever Lucy was mentioned,_

 _"There were a lot of markings but the ones that stood out was a star, resting above a circle with a cross through it," Levy said and Gajeel looked at her curiously, "but the weird thing about it was that the star had twelve points," Levy explained, "This could mean many things, such as the zodiac, nine of which Lucy holds, ten that she has close relations to. Or it could refer to 12 gods, in the old testament, 12 often represented God's people because Israel consisted or 12 tribes, it could also symbolise an epiphany of some sorts. I'm going to go ahead and say that it's most likely the first one because Lucy is involved," Levy explained with confidence, "I just need to look at the other markings more closely and try to make a connection, you boys look for anything we might have missed and brought it to me. I don't care if its just a funny looking rock, we are bringing Lu home," Levy said with determination and the two dragon slayers and they exceed companions grinned at her._

 _Flashback end_

Gajeel placed a hand on Levy's head and she snapped out of her train of thought, "If anyone can find Bunny Girl it'll be you Shrimp, now let's get you home so you can lay down," he said a gently pulled her out of her seat, Levy sighed as she stood up and placed a hand on her slightly swollen stomach,

"Yeah, I only hope that we find her in time for her to meet her godchild," Levy smiled softly down at her stomach and together they made their way out of the guild hall towards the apartment that they share together.

 **End Fairytail's POV**

Naruto looked around in search of Haku, the fog started to clear. Naruto looked to where four figures seemed to be standing and his eyes widened in shock and horror, Kakashi was standing there with his arm extended, tears streaming down his face and Lucy attached to him, but Kakashi's hand went straight through her stomach, Haku was standing directly behind her, frozen.

"Lucy," Naruto screamed and it was at that moment that Sasuke woke up. He groaned as he sat up and looked around groggily,

'Did Naruto and Lucy beat that guy?' Sasuke thought to himself but he stopped as he saw Naruto start crying and turned to where Naruto's attention was, 'no, not Lucy,' Sasuke thought to himself, 'please, anyone but Lucy, ' he continued as he watched numbly.

"Well Haku, looks like your attempted sacrifice did us some good, the girl has gone and gotten herself killed," Zabuza laughed out loud as he continued to watch Kakashi shake, Haku didn't say a word. He just stood there, staring at Lucy. Zabuza grabbed his sword and swung it downwards towards where Lucy and Kakashi were only to have Haku jump towards them and move the both of them out of the way, "Haku, what are you doing?" Zabuza asked in rage,

"I'm sorry, but I cannot allow you to touch this girl," he said and turned around, he hovered over Lucy in a defensive position. This snapped Kakashi out of his shock as he slowly took his hand out of Lucy's stomach and knelt beside her, he was still shaking as he checked for a pulse or any sign of life.

"So you're choosing a dead girl over me?" Zabuza snarled,

"Of course not, I am your tool until the day I die but I will not allow you to touch the one who gave her life for me to continue to do that," Haku stated firmly, it was then that Naruto came into view, he was shaking in rage and had tears streaming down his face.

"Naruto, stay out of this," Kakashi said carefully, his voice shaking.

"Naruto, you're alive," Sakura shouted, "is Sasuke with you?" She asked him and Naruto looked away, "No, " she whispered,

"I'm okay," Sasuke said softly as he came into their view, "I think Lucy healed me up," he said and looked towards where Lucy was laying, Sakura got tears in her eyes again and Naruto clenched his jaw.

"Kakashi-Sensei, is Lucy?" Sakura asked but she couldn't bring herself to say the words,

"I'm not sensing anything," Kakashi replied in frustration and Sakura started to force her tears back,

"You don't have to hold back on my account kids, sometimes it's good to let out some honest tears," Tazuna said as he watched all three Genin look at their fallen comrade,

"I always got perfect scores on my written tests at the academy. I memorised the 100 rules of shinobi conduct, I use to write them out of pride," Sakura started to say and Tazuna looked at her confused, "one day we had a test and the question was, what is the 25th rule of shinobi conduct and just like always I wrote it down," Sakura whispered,

"No matter what happens a shinobi must never show their true emotions, the mission is the only priority, carry that in your heart and never shed a tear," Sasuke and Sakura said together, Sakura started to bawl out crying while Sasuke was desperately holding it in, Naruto let a few tears fall,

"So that's the life of a shinobi, how unbearable," Tazuna whispered.

Zabuza was charging for Kakashi with his sword raised but Haku stood in the way because Lucy was also in his line sight. Zabuza paused and jumped into the air to avoid Lucy and brought down his sword on Kakashi only to be kicked away. Kakashi still had his eyes solely on Lucy as Zabuza skid to a stop, Kakashi slowly stood up with his head facing downward. Zabuza came charging again only to have Kakashi slam his arm into his face and push him away forcefully,

"What can't I keep up?" Zabuza said in frustration and attempted to hit Kakashi again but Kakashi moved around behind him and grabbed Zabuza's head,

"It's over, Zabuza," Kakashi said lowly, his voice came out in a growl. He took out two kunai and aimed them for Zabuza's head, "this is goodbye demon," Kakashi said but Zabuza swung his sword around him and aimed for Kakashi who was still behind him. Kakashi leaned back to avoid getting hit, Kakashi was forced to let go as Zabuza threw the sword, "now you can't use either arm," Kakashi said,

"Well hasn't he made a mess out of you?" A new smug voice said and everyone turned to see a small man with spiky hair and black sunglasses on, "Zabuza," the man smirked,

"Why are you here? Why did you bring all of them?" Zabuza asked even though he knew the answer,

"A slight change in plans, well in your plans, you must have guessed it by now that I never intended to pay you," the man that could only be known as Gato said,

"So, the kid was right," Zabuza said as he looked to where Lucy and Haku were standing, Gato was bragging about what he was doing and insulting Zabuza, "Kakashi, forgive me but our fight is over. I no longer have reason to kill Tazuna," he paused, "and I'm sorry about the kid," he added,

"You're right," Kakashi said albeit reluctantly,

"What?" Naruto said in disbelief,

"That reminds me, I have a score to settle with this girl. She took out half of my men before we got here," Gato said as he walked over to where Lucy was laying and raised his foot, "stupid, dead, brat," he said and attempted to kick her but Haku caught his foot before he could,

"You touch her, you die," he said menacingly to Gato, everyone stared at him in shock except for Zabuza,

"And you, you almost broke my arm before, I'm going to enjoy seeing you die," Gato snarled out. Haku stood up and turned to face Gato's army, Zabuza watched from behind. Naruto angrily stormed up to Zabuza,

"Who the hell do you think you are?" he shouted angrily and Haku watched in surprise as Kakashi held Naruto back from getting to close to Zabuza, "No, why doesn't he do something already?" Naruto demanded,

"like what, brat?" Zabuza asked gravely,

"Haku almost died to protect you and Lucy died to save him, are you really just going to let that fat scumbag say all of that to them?" Naruto shouted lividly,

"That kid is already dead and Haku is merely a tool at my disposal," Zabuza responded gravely,

"You should care, Haku loves you, would do anything for you and you treat him as an object. Lucy loved all life, she had a passion for it, she showed me what it was like to have someone look after you," Naruto said as he got tears in his eyes once again, "she cooked for me and cleaned for me, she bandaged up my wounds, helped me study and told me she was proud of me when I passed a test," his tears started to fall. Sasuke clenched his fists hearing these words, "she wished me a happy birthday, sewed up my clothes, told me off when I was wrong. Lucy loved me, she loved everybody, she saved Haku and tried to save you, are you seriously saying that it meant nothing?" Naruto cried out,

"Shut up," Zabuza said softly and everyone looked in his direction, "your words cut deeper than a sword," he said and looked over towards Naruto, he had tears welling in his eyes but never let them fall,

"Zabuza," Haku whispered,

"As shinobi, we prided ourselves on being emotionless, but we seem to forget that we are still human," Zabuza whispered into the brisk air, "Boy, give me your kunai," he motioned to Naruto and Naruto threw him a kunai. It spun in the air and Zabuza caught it with his mouth and dashed forwards,

"I'll assist you," Haku said and was about to run after Zabuza but fell over unconscious,

"I'm sorry, I didn't just risk my life for you to get yourself killed," a feminine voiced said and everyone stopped and looked to where it came from. Lucy was there kneeling on the ground with her arm extended, Haku was laying in front of her with two needles sticking out of his neck. A green glow was surrounding Lucy's stomach and she breathed out a sigh of relief when it stopped, "it took a lot longer to stop the bleeding than I thought, I'm sorry if I worried everyone," She said sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head feeling guilty,

"Lucy," the three Genin shouted and ran forwards to hug her, Sakura was crying into her chest and Sasuke and Naruto had a hold of her arms, Kakashi fell to his knees in relief. He was breathing deeply and looking at his hands.

"Hey, don't cry Sakura I'm okay, I'm completely out of chakra but I'm okay," Lucy cooed as she pats Sakura on the head. She felt both Sasuke's and Naruto's hands shake slightly and smiled softly before placing a hand behind both of the boy's heads and brought them to rest on her shoulders, "what you didn't think that I would do that without a back up plan did you?" she asked them all softly, "I love both of you boys like family," with that they all let go of her just as Zabuza was finishing up his fight, he had spears coming out of his back and blood dripping all over him, not all his own.

Zabuza fell onto his back and stared at the sky, Gato's headless body not too far from him. The rest of Gato's army started to get riled up though, "Did you forget about us? You ninja killed our meal ticket and now you're gonna pay," they shouted and everyone looked towards them, "The only way for us to break even is to take straight from the villagers," another yelled and the rest agreed with him. They all started to charge towards them,

"well this isn't good," Kakashi said as he stood up,

"Kakashi-Sensei isn't there some jutsu you could use to deal with them all?" Naruto asked,

"even if there was, I'm out of chakra," He replied, suddenly an arrow landed between the mob and the ninja,

"Stop right there," yelled out a tiny voice and they all looked up to see Inari holding a tiny bow shooter and behind him were all the men that Lucy had seen working on the bridge plus some from the market,

"This island is our home, one step further and you'll die where you stand," they all yelled out,

"Inari," Naruto shouted in excitement,

"hah, the hero always shows up at the last moment," Inari laughed and Lucy couldn't help but sweatdrop at his words.

"Alright, mind if I join you?" Naruto said and performed the shadow clone jutsu, making three solid clones,

 _'I can't manage anything with my chakra so low but a bluff maybe,'_ Kakashi thought to himself and made about fifty illusional clones of himself, the mob started to look scared when a golden glow came from in front of Lucy,

"Hey there beautiful, don't worry I came here on my own power," Loke said as he adjusted his suit and made his hands glow gold,

"Loke," Lucy shouted excitingly, Sakura got hearts in her eyes as she looked towards Loke. The mob started to scream,

"shall we begin?" Kakashi said and they all started to run away, the villagers started to cheer. Naruto and Kakashi dropped their jutsus, Loke knelt down in front of Lucy,

"That was a close call princess if you hadn't released the chakra that you had stored up before you got hit you probably would have bled out," he said to her and Lucy looked away. Kakashi walked over to Zabuza,

"I'm sorry that I worried you," Lucy said and hugged him before he went back to the spirit world, Sakura still had a blush on her face as she looked at where Loke used to be standing. Kakashi had brought Zabuza over to where Haku was laying passed out and beckoned Lucy over to him, walking over she couldn't help but feel sad at the thought of Zabuza dying,

"girl, take the boy with you," he rasped out as he looked towards Haku,

"What?" she asked him, she knew what he meant but she was still confused as to why he was saying that to her,

"Take him with you, he'll listen to you," Zabuza coughed out some blood, "He'll follow you and want to protect you, give him a better life than I did," Lucy couldn't help but agree,

"Okay," was all she said before Zabuza closed his eyes. Lucy sighed out as she turned back towards Haku wondering what she was going to tell him, "We should go back," Lucy said but her head snapped to the side, she heard Sakura gasp and almost let one out herself but all she did was blink. After a moment she placed her hand on her cheek and turned back to face the one who hit her, to face Kakashi with her eyes wide, everyone was silent.

"What the hell were you thinking?" he shouted and started to breathe heavily in anger, Lucy didn't answer him because she honestly didn't know how to, "How could you do that to me?" he asked her and his voice cracked. He swallowed deeply and Lucy just looked down, she knew about Rin and she knew what this might do to him but all she thought about was saving Haku at the time,

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I didn't know what else to do," she practically whimpered, he grabbed her by the shoulders firmly but gently,

"Don't you ever do that again," he said lowly, leaving no room for argument and Lucy could do nothing but nod her head, "no I want you to promise me," he said because he knew that she would never break a promise,

"I promise," was all she whispered and Kakashi let go of her and turned walking towards where Haku was lying before lifting him up on his shoulders and started heading in the direction of Tazuna's house. Everyone else started to follow him, still silent; Lucy had her head down the entire way back.

 **Time Skip**

It had been two weeks since the incident on the bridge, everyone including Haku was standing in front of a grave that they had made for Zabuza, they felt like he deserved a proper send off. Kakashi still wasn't speaking to Lucy, they still shared to the same room but they were now on opposite sides. Kakashi had moved his bedding over to the window once they had gotten back to Tazuna's that day when Lucy had retired for the night and saw where Kakashi was set up she almost felt like crying. She was hoping to try and make it up to him that night but it seemed that he wanted space. On the up-side Lucy and Sakura have gotten closer to one another, they talked about clothes and books, it was a nice change. Lucy didn't have many girlfriends in the village, except for Anko and Kurenai but they didn't really count they were more like mentors. Haku and herself had also grown quite close and he had agreed to go back to the Leaf village with them, despite the fact that he would have to be taken in for extreme questioning. His reasoning was that he owed Lucy a life debt and wouldn't take no for an answer, despite all of her protests.

"Ow," Naruto yelled out and clutched his hand to his chest,

"You don't take food from an offering Naruto," Sakura scolded, "Bad things happen to those who take offerings,"

"She's not wrong Naruto," Lucy said, "You could be risking punishment from the gods," she said teasingly, "Although I don't think this is something that they would concern themselves with,"

"Still, I can't help but wonder, was Zabuza right about what a ninja should be?" Sakura asked Haku looked at her silently,

"I shinobi should never wonder about the reason for his or her own existence, it is important merely that we exist as a tool for our villages to use in whatever way they need. That's as true for us in the Leaf as it is for ninja elsewhere," Kakashi responded to her and Lucy crinkled her nose,

"I've never like that saying, a village should be like a family in my opinion," she added in and crossed her arms, Kakashi ignored her like he has been for the last two weeks while everyone was recovering,

"Yeah I agree, I don't like the sound of that one bit, is that really how you feel Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said weighing in,

"Well no and that's why all we ninja live our lives with that ideal always lying underneath the surface. Disturbing our minds, as it did with Zabuza," Kakashi said to him, Haku looked towards where the large sword was stuck in the ground.

"That's it I've made up my mind, I am going to create my own nindo, my own ninja way," Haku and Kakashi looked at Naruto in surprise and smiled.

Later that day everyone was standing at the entrance of the bridge, Tazuna was saying his thanks to them while Inari stood in front of him and Tsunami stood by his side, "We've enjoyed your hospitality," Kakashi thanked respectfully,

"No problem Tazuna, we'll come back to see you again soon," Naruto said with a closed-eyed grin,

"You better," Inari replied tearfully, Naruto also got tears in his eyes as he stared at Inari,

"Inari, don't let it get you down. It's okay to cry if you really want to, you know,"

"I'm not gonna cry but Naruto, hey Big Brother, y-you can cry if you want to, go ahead,"

"Me? No way," Naruto said and finally turned around, "See you," Naruto started to let his tears run down his face, as did Inari. Lucy sweatdropped at them while Sakura only pulled an annoyed face at Naruto, "All right, let's go home. Iruka-sensei is going to take me out for ramen to celebrate the completion of this mission, you coming along Lucy?" Naruto excitedly exclaimed as they walked over the bridge,

"Iruka paying?" Lucy asked teasingly,

"Of course," Naruto laughed,

"I'm in,"

"Sasuke, when we get back do you want to go out with me?" Sakura asked,

"No," Sasuke said plainly and Sakura looked down in disappointment,

"How about you both come with Naruto and me for ramen, Iruka's treat," Lucy said and Sakura was about to deny the offer but Sasuke agreed to go and she excitedly said yes as well. It only took the day to get back to the Hidden Leaf and Haku got taken away almost as soon as they arrived, Lucy has been going to see him in the TI unit every day to make sure that he was okay and it only took a week until Lucy could finally convince the Hokage to let him live in an apartment that was part way between Naruto's and Kakashi's place, under the condition that herself and Haku form a two-man squad. Albeit it wasn't a very good apartment but one visit from a couple of her spirits and it seemed to be liveable. Kakashi still wouldn't talk to her though, wouldn't even be in the same room as her. Lucy wouldn't be surprised if one day she came back from training to find bags of her stuff on the front porch, which is why she went to speak with Gai,

"So, my rival won't speak to you huh?" he asked as they both sat down in a booth at the BBQ restaurant,

"It's been almost a month Gai, no matter what I do he seems to avoid me, I even tried breaking down his door and he jumped out of the window," Lucy said as she stirred her straw that was residing in her lemonade that she hasn't had a drink of yet,

"That is quite the predicament, as expected from my rival to escape at every turn," he said excitingly but calmed down once he saw the look on Lucy's face,

"I don't know what to do anymore, you know how Kakashi is. Stubborn isn't exactly new to him," Lucy said disheartened, she sighed as she continued to stir her straw,

"you do seem to be in quite a bind," he took a bite out of his beef burger,

"I just need to know if he's alright, can you just check on him for me?" she asked him hopefully and Gai paused for a second,

 _'The situation must be worse than I thought if Lucy has to ask someone else to tell her if he's okay, just how is he avoiding her if they live together?'_ Gai thought to himself before he smiled a big toothy grin at her and gave her a thumbs up, "Just leave it to me my youthful little flower," he shouted and she smiled up at him before taking a sip from her lemonade. They talked about his Genin team's progression and his plans to admit them to the Chunin exams this year. Lucy talked about Haku and her individual training with the rookie 9.

 **Time Skip**

"My eternal rival, how are we on this youthful day?" Gai asked later that day as he came skidding to a stop beside Kakashi who was walking along quietly with his head stuck in a book, Kakashi sighed and lifted his head to acknowledge that Gai spoke,

"I don't want to do a challenge today Gai," he said in a droll tone of voice,

"Luckily that is not why I'm here, we have yet to speak since you got back from that mission you took with your ever youthful students," Gai said and smiled, the sun glaring off of his enlarged teeth. Kakashi looked at him suspiciously,

"Lucy sent you here didn't she?" He asked bluntly and Gai's shoulders drooped down, "I'll take that as a yes,"

"She just wants to know how you're doing," Gai said now completely serious, Kakashi ignored him and kept walking, "I don't know what's going on between you two but you can't avoid her forever, you live together," Gai pointed out. Kakashi stopped walking but didn't look up from his book, "she's really worried about you and honestly, after she told the lengths you go to just to evade her presence so am I,"

"It's not that bad," Kakashi said in denial,

"You jumped out of a window," Gai stated bluntly and Kakashi's shoulders dropped, "What the hell happened to make you hate her so much?" Gai asked,

"I don't hate her,"

"Then why did Lucy come to me after it looked like she'd been crying?"

"She was crying?" Kakashi whispered and ran a hand through his silver, spiky hair. Kakashi sat down on a stool at the nearby bar and put his forehead to the bar countertop, "something happened on that mission that Lucy and I took with the Genins," Kakashi started and told him everything that happened on the bridge.

"So you're avoiding her because you hurt her?" Gai asked him after he finished explaining, Kakashi nod his head, nursing his beer, "Kakashi, don't take this the wrong way but are you an idiot?" Gai yelled at him and Kakashi jumped slightly in surprise,

"How am I not suppose to take that the wrong way?" Kakashi whispered and Gai either ignore him or didn't hear him.

"What the hell is wrong with you? The first thing you do after she wakes up is hit her then you ignore her existence for nearly a month, all the while she's crying about you hating her and is scared you're never going to be in the same room as her again," Gai started rant before Kakashi cut him off,

"So then what am I suppose to do?" He asked in frustration,

"Talk to her," Gai said almost instantly, "and people say I'm clueless," Gai grumbled and took a mouthful of his beer, emotionally drained. Gai loved to help his friends out but sometimes when it came to Kakashi and his relationships with other people, he could be so clueless.

"What if she hates me or worse, afraid of me?" Kakashi asked him, "I was so overwhelmed and angry that I hit her, I hit her Gai. After I made her promise not to jump in front of that jutsu again I looked at her cheek and it was already starting to bruise. How was I suppose to react to that? I hit her." Kakashi said and once again put his forehead on the bar countertop,

"So you crawl to her on your knees with strawberry offerings and ask her to forgive you," a feminine voice said from behind them and they turned to see Kurenai and Asuma, "if she does and because it's Lucy, she will, you swear on your very being that you won't do it again because once word gets out to Ibiki what happened he's going to torture you for information that he already knows," Kurenai said with a smile on her face. Asuma sweatdropped at her sweet smile but nodded in agreement with her anyway. Kakashi nodded his head but still looked down feeling guilt.

Kakashi was walking home with the conversation he had with Gai still at the front of his mind, wondering if he was right. _'It doesn't matter how close Lucy and I get, he still knows how to make her feel better more than I do,'_ Kakashi thought to himself depressed. Once he arrived back at the house it was silent, like it had been since they had gotten back from the land of waves. Lucy usually left him alone until dinner was ready, she always tried to talk to him when she went to tell him that food was ready. Kakashi never answered her though, _'this time is going to be different, when she tries to talk to me I'll answer her,'_ Kakashi thought to himself, or at least that's what he thought. When dinner finally came around Kakashi was pacing back and forth in his room trying to figure out what to say when he heard Lucy come up the stairs and took a deep breath. Lucy paused in front of his bedroom door and he waited for her to knock but after a few seconds, he heard her sigh on the other side of the door before she continued walking down the hall. Kakashi was frozen staring at the door, he didn't know what to do, _'should I go to her? How would I even begin?'_ He thought in panic, _'maybe I should just corner her in the morning, Gai said that she had a long day I should let her sleep,'_ and with that Kakashi went to bed still thinking about what he was going to say tomorrow.

The next day Lucy got up rather early and headed to the training grounds to meet up with Haku, they had their very first mission together as a team. Although the Hokage had said that Haku was to take the required amount of missions before they were allowed to take the Chunin exams, they were both above a Genin level so the Hokage wasn't concerned about them having a third member to enter.

"Haku you ready?" Lucy called out as she came upon Haku waiting for her at the entrance of the training grounds, he nodded his head softly and together they both walked to the Hokages office to get a handful of Genin missions.

"So, what do these missions actually allow Genin's to accomplish? There are no shinobi skills required for these chores," Haku asked her as they pulled weeds out of an elderly ladies garden,

"it actually does more than you'd think, it mainly teaches them how to communicate with clients and deal with the social aspect of missions. You don't learn this in the academy nor out in the field, the Hokage made this a part of the Genin curriculum for their Jonin instructors to follow as well as teaching them formations, chakra control and combat skills that they then can later develop as their own. People usually figure out the best way for them to fight once they enter the Chunin exams because they no longer have their sensei's to hold their hand," Lucy explained to him in technical terms so that he would understand the benefit of these missions, what she didn't tell him though was that these missions were also a way for the villagers to get used to and maybe even like Haku, although, he probably already knew, "When we're done with these do you want to go through some drills and work out some combinations we can do?"

"That might be a good idea, we've never fought together before," After they were finished with all of their mission they were on their way to the training grounds when Lucy saw Konohamaru being picked up by a boy wearing all black with white make-up on his face, Naruto was standing in front of them with an angry look, Sakura was behind him sweating, looking nervous and two little kids were hiding behind her.

"You go ahead Haku, I'll handle this," Lucy said and started making her way over, Haku nodded his head in recognition and started to walk towards the training grounds. Naruto started to charge at the foreign ninja only to trip over, Lucy narrowed her eyes before jumping in front of Naruto.

"Who's the babe?" the foreign ninja asked smugly,

"Lucy," Sakura shouted excitedly,

"You keep your mouth shut about her," Naruto yelled,

"Whatever," he said and turned back towards Konohamaru,

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Lucy said and both he and the blonde-haired girl behind looked towards her, "Oh, whys that cutie?" the boy holding Konohamaru asked her,

"well, I don't know about you but I wouldn't want to go into someone else's village and start picking on their Kage's grandson," Lucy stated like it was obvious and the guy paused before looking at Konohamaru fearfully before slowly lowering him to the ground and turned to glare at the rest of them. Konohamaru ran towards Lucy and hid behind her, hugging her leg. The guy tsked and started to reach behind him,

"You're seriously using crow for this?" the blonde-haired girl asked, then rock hit the hand that was reaching towards his back,

"What are people like you doing in our village?" Everyone looked towards where the voice came from and saw Sasuke sitting up in the tree above them,

"so cool, Sasuke," Sakura praised, the other blonde girl blushed as she looked at him and Lucy only sighed,

"Another brat, I hate guys like you the most," the unknown boy said,

"Get lost," was Sasuke's only reply,

"Naruto, compared to that guy and my future bride you suck," Konohamaru declared and Lucy blushed slightly as Naruto tried to defend himself,

"Kankuro, stop causing trouble," a raspy voice said from higher up in the tree and everyone turned to see a red-haired guy with a humungous gourd on his back, standing on a tree branch upside down, "you're a disgrace to our entire village,"

"G-Gaara," Kankuro stuttered,

"Have you forgotten why we are here," Gaara said, still upside down, Sasuke had tensed from his place in the tree below him,

"Ah, so you were the one hiding behind Sasuke," Lucy said, "Keep your teammates in line please, this one threatened the Hokage's grandson," she said pointing at Kankuro,

"th-they started it, the boy slammed into me," Kankuro stuttered as Lucy placed the blame on him,

"Shut up, or I'll kill you," Gaara said seriously to Kankuro, Kankuro started to excuse himself and apologise to Gaara as Gaara disappeared in a swirl of sand and reappeared between Kankuro and the blonde-haired girl, "Let's go," as they started to walk away Sakura stopped them,

"according to your headbands, you three come from the village hidden in the sand. State your business, we can't just let you go on your way," Sakura demanded,

"Calm down Sakura, they have permission to be here. The leaf village is hosting the Chunin exams this year and they start at the end on the week," Lucy said and put a hand on Sakura's shoulder, the female ninja from the sand village started to explain to Naruto who had a confused look on his face,

"Hey, what's you're name?" Sasuke asked as he appeared beside Lucy and in front of Sakura,

"who me?" the blonde girl blushed,

"No, the one with the gourd on his back," the blonde girl hunched her shoulders in disappointment,

"Gaara of the desert and you are?" he said and asked in return,

"Sasuke Uchiha," Sasuke said with a smirk and Gaara looked towards Lucy,

"and yours?" Sasuke stopped smirking and walked to stand in front of Lucy,

"Sasuke that's rude, I am Lucy Heartfilia," Lucy said and smiled towards Gaara and Gaara's eyes widened slightly before Naruto interrupted,

"Hey, I bet you're just dying to know my name," he said with a huge grin,

"No, let's go," and with that, the sand ninja teleported away. While the others were talking amongst themselves Lucy tensed and turned towards the tree with her dojutsu activated and glared. Before turning around and walking in the direction that Haku went to catch up with him.


	19. Chapter 19

Lucy and Haku were standing in the Hokage's after they were summoned during their training, all of the Jonin instructors were present as well, "Lord Hokage why have we been summoned?" Lucy questions as the Jonin's all looked at Haku suspiciously,

"Well I was taking a peek at your training earlier and I thought that it would be best to get this over with now, the two of you seem quite capable," the Hokage started and took a puff from his smoking pipe, "I have decided to enter the two of you into the Chunin exams," he finished, both Haku and Lucy looked at him in surprise while some of the Jonin's started to protest,

"Lord Hokage, shouldn't we have three members on our squad to enter?" Lucy questioned as the Jonin's started to quiet down,

"yes, which is why I am allowing you to choose a summons of yours to assist you, only one and it has to be the same one throughout the entire exams," the Hokage answered and Lucy thought to herself for a minute,

"am I still allowed to communicate with them if I haven't chosen them?" she asked and the Hokage shook his head no,

"I think Haku and I should discuss this decision together, who should we hand in our paperwork to?" Haku looked at Lucy in surprise while the Hokage chuckled,

"To me of course, I am the one who's recommending you," the Hokage said and looked at the both of them, "I will wait for you at the meeting place in 5 days for your paperwork, until then," he said and handed Lucy three sheets of paper and dismissed them. Lucy and Haku were walking out of the Hokage tower and were heading to Haku's apartment when someone came running up behind them,

"Lucy, wait," when Lucy turned around, she saw Kakashi standing a few feet from her, staring at her, not saying anything. Lucy felt her eyes go wide at the fact that he spoke to her,

"Why don't we discuss the exams tomorrow Lucy?" Haku whispered from beside her and she turned to face him,

"Sure, I'll see you then," Haku took the papers from Lucy and continued on his way to his apartment. Lucy turned to face Kakashi once again,

 _'why am I not saying anything? I had this all planned out in my head,'_ Kakashi thought to himself, Lucy looked down and rubbed her arm,

 _'geez, he called me out and now he's not saying anything. What if he's going to kick me out?'_ Lucy panicked inside her head before she looked up and laughed nervously, "why don't we go talk at home?"

"Sure," Kakashi whispered and like that they were walking towards Kakashi's house. One of them was trying to figure out what to say when they got there and the other was playing out different scenarios in their head about what was going to happen.

Once they arrived at Kakashi's place he opened the door and lead them into the lounge room, they still hadn't said a word. Once they had sat on the couch Lucy had folded her hands into her lap and crossed one ankle over the other, her head was held high and her facial expression poised,

 _'She does this whenever she's expecting things to go wrong, changes her expressions to give nothing away,'_ Kakashi thought to himself as Lucy grew more reserved, "Lucy, " Kakashi whispered and Lucy turned to look at him, "why are you so tense?" He asked her and internally kicked himself,

"What do expect? I don't know where we stand anymore," she spoke in a soft tone,

"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked her confused, he knew that things weren't the same but they couldn't be that bad, could they?

"What do you think it means? First I make you relive a tragic memory of the past, then you make me promise not to do it again, ignore my entire existence, don't listen to my reasoning, jump out of a window and then call me out and sit me down not saying anything," Lucy stressed and got up to start pacing, "I'm freaking out here," she said and turned to look at him, trying to keep her tears at bay,

"I never wanted to stress you, I just didn't know what to do," Kakashi said and ran a hand through his hair, "for crying out loud Lucy, what did you want me to say?" He groaned in frustration,

"It didn't matter what it was as long as it was something. So at least then I would know if you were angry or upset or just something," she sighed out the last part as if she was exhausted,

"Okay fine, you want to know how I feel? You want to know that I can't sleep at night, that I keep replaying it over in my head until I can't breathe," he started to rant and Lucy's eyes widened at his words but Kakashi didn't stop, "You want to know that I've actually had that nightmare before? Yeah, not long after you first moved in, I had that nightmare. At first it was Rin but then when I looked back up at her, she changed into you," Kakashi said and he started to breath heavily, sweat was pouring down his face and dampening his mask, "I hurt you, twice... with the same hand," he said hoarsely, his throat had gone dry and it felt like he hadn't had a drink in days. Lucy on the other hand didn't know what to say, what could she say?

Nothing could change what happened and if Lucy was being honest with herself, she wouldn't change it even if she could. She saved a life, a life that never had a chance to use their gifts for something good, something better than what they were doing before and that made her feel even guiltier. She could have saved Kakashi from experiencing all of this pain but she knew that she wouldn't change her mind even if she could. Lucy looked down at her hands, her brow furrowed and her fists clenched, she sniffed. Kakashi looked at her slightly, "I'm sorry Kakashi," Lucy whispered to him, "I'm sorry that I'm putting you through all of this," tears came to her eyes at this point and she was desperately trying to hold them back, "it was just something that I had to do," she said,

"what do you mean?" Kakashi demanded, "you had to do it?"

"once I had realised that Haku never intended to kill any of us, I knew that I couldn't let him die and the idiot that he is he went and threw himself in front of Zabuza. I didn't know what else to do, I didn't have enough time to push him out of the way," Lucy took a deep breath, "so at the last second I released the chakra that I had stored up and focused it around my stomach," she paused and looked up at him, "I didn't mean to hurt you so much," she ended in a whisper, Kakashi sighed,

"I know, it's just who you are. You'll do anything to save someone, even if it means giving your own life," Kakashi replied to her in an exhausted tone,

"If you know then why won't you talk to me?" Lucy whispered to him,

"Because I'm scared," Kakashi snapped at her unintentionally his patients running thin and she looked at him confused,

"Scared? Of what?" She wondered out loud and Kakashi sighed in anger, it was starting to boil in his chest. Lucy could be so smart and intuitive but sometimes as dense as the mountain that the Hokages faces had been carved into,

"Of hurting you, you idiot," he yelled at her and she only blinked at him,

"Hurting me?" She repeated,

"Yes, hurting you. Lucy, I don't know if you realise this but after I stuck my hand through your stomach, I hit you, with the same hand," Kakashi stressed for the umpteenth time. Lucy sighs as her eyes softened slightly at him, she grabbed his right hand gently. Kakashi tensed as she touched him, Lucy slowly brought his hand up to rest on her cheek as she took a deep breath,

"You're right, this hand has caused some damage and will probably cause many more injuries," she whispered and Kakashi tried to tug his hand away from her at her words, "but, this is also the hand that's taken care of me," Kakashi stopped moving, "this hand has provided for me, taught me, and comforted me when I needed it. This hand may be capable of causing pain but it's also capable of doing wonderful things," Lucy smiled as she looked up at Kakashi, still holding his hand to her cheek, "you don't have to be so afraid Kakashi, if you only ever think of a painful ending then you're going to miss out on so many things and even if the ending is painful wouldn't you rather have good memories to fall back on?" Lucy slowly let go of Kakashi's hand but he kept it on her cheek.

Kakashi gently ran his thumb across the underneath of her eye before resting it to the side of her cheek where it had been before, "I'm sorry," he whispered, he knelt down on the ground in front of her so they were eye level, "I'm sorry," his voiced cracked, Lucy's eyes started to water once again. Kakashi brought his head down the rest on her shoulder and he wrapped his arms around her,

"So, does this mean we're okay?" Lucy asked, her voiced quivered and Kakashi laughed sightly before tightening his hold on her,

"We're okay," he said and with that everything between them went back to the way it was.

The next day Lucy was on her way to Haku's place with a skip in her step, since herself and Kakashi had made up the night before things seemed to go back to the way they were before the land of waves mission. Lucy stopped walking when she saw Sakura walking with her head down looking at a piece of paper,

"Hey, Sakura, how are you?" Lucy asked as she caught up to her,

"oh, hi Lucy," Sakura said and sighed,

"What's wrong?"

"nothing it's just," Sakura paused and handed Lucy an application for the Chunin exams,

"I don't understand, Kakashi recommended you for the Chunin exams, isn't that a good thing?"

"well I don't know if I'm going to enter," Sakura said and Lucy was somewhat confused,

 _'don't you need the whole team to enter? If she doesn't then Sasuke and Naruto can't either,'_ Lucy thought,

"I always looking at the boy's backs, Sasuke was right, I'm worse than even Naruto," Sakura said in shame,

"Sakura, it's up to you whether or not you think you're ready but you're never going to know unless you try," Lucy smiled and handed Sakura back her application form, "believe it or not Sakura I know exactly how you feel," Sakura looked up at her in surprise, "that's right, before I moved here I was always looking at my teammates backs, no matter how hard I tried or how long I trained they always seemed to be one step ahead of me. Natsu and Gray, they were my teammates, they fought like Sasuke and Naruto do but they were probably the best team I've ever seen," Lucy smiled as she got lost in memories, "I could never catch up to them, even now I bet they're still ahead of me but even so, I work hard and push myself so that one day I might be able to walk alongside them and protect them for a change," she finished and looked at Sakura, "I might be able to help you with some quick training, you've already got the knowledge and with some help you could have some skills to,"

"I would love to but the exams are in less than four days, how could I be ready by then?" Sakura asked her and Lucy smiled,

"Meet me at your usual training grounds in an hour," Lucy said and handed her a scroll, "I want you to read at least the first half of this scroll, I'll explain what you're going to be doing once I get there," and with that Lucy took off in the direction of Haku's apartment to quickly discuss which of her spirits will be participating with them.

At Haku's place Lucy was giving him a rundown about her spirits, "I was thinking that Gemini, Virgo or Capricorn would be best for the Chunin exams," Lucy said once she had finished,

"I agree," Haku stated softly, "Gemini can gather information, Virgo can provide survival equipment and Capricorn can analyse and attack opponents not to mention properly prioritise our time and equipment," he continued, his voice still soft and gentle, like he was trying to soothe someone,

"Exactly but I'm not sure about what skills are going to be needed the most," Lucy wondered,

"Well we already know that there are going to be three parts to the exam, I can only guess that one of them has to do with teamwork or it wouldn't be a requirement to have three to a squad," Haku said as he started to think,

"if that's the case then one of them will probably be to analyse our individual skills as well, they can't promote whole teams without seeing individual skills,"

"then if those two are battle related then the last one has to have something to do with either our minds or knowledge,"

"Maybe even both," Lucy finalised as they tried to work out who they would need in the exam, "If that's the case then I think it's safe to say that Gemini would be the best way to go, after all I think that we work well together and have our individual skills down pact but we don't know much about the other villages Genin," she finished and put a hand to her chin,

"We're already at an advantage anyway, we have a lot of outer village experience, we've been in life or death situations without a Jonin present," Haku whispered and Lucy nodded in agreement,

"Alright here we go, Open, gate of the twins, Gemini," Lucy called out and a gold key appeared in her hand,

"Piri, Piri, hello again Miss Lucy," Gemi said first,

"It wasn't that long ago when you last called us out," finished Mini,

"Hey you two, I actually have a favour to ask of you," Lucy said to them smiling, the two adorable blue twins looked at one another before turning back to Lucy,

"How can we help? Piri, Piri," they both asked together and Lucy went on to explain the Chunin exams and asked them to participate in everything that required a team, "We are honoured that you chose us Miss, we'll be sure to gather as much information on everyone we tough as possible," they both said and took the application form that Lucy held out to them before they disappeared back into the spirit world,

"They are very loyal to you," Haku said spoke softly, yet again,

"Well our contract is made through a promise you know, it's different to other summoning contracts, our bond is what makes us stronger," Lucy said and placed a hand on her chest, close to her heart,

"No, it's more than that," Lucy looked up at Haku as he said this, "They genuinely love you, every spirit that I've met, which I know isn't a lot but each one seems to care for you. Like nothing would stop them from making you happy,"

"I guess that's because I would do the same for them," and with that Lucy started to make her way towards the training grounds where hopefully Sakura was waiting for her. Walking into the training grounds she saw Sakura reading the scroll underneath a tree with a furrowed brow, "Sakura," Sakura looked up at Lucy when she called her out and waved to her as she got closer,

"Lucy," Sakura stood up as Lucy got closer, "I've read some of the scroll and I'm not quite sure how this is supposed to help me," she said and Lucy sweatdropped at her, "I mean, I've already learnt chakra control by walking up trees,"

"Sakura, by applying chakra to your limbs, it can increase your physical abilities because we don't have enough time to train your body. Normally people only train using their chakra after they've trained their body but because of how well you did in the land of waves I think that you can do this," Lucy explained, "Now I want you to focus your chakra into your hands and spread through your arms until it reaches your elbows," Sakura had closed her eyes and a faint blue glow had started to surround her arms, after a minute Sakura opened her eyes and looked down at her arms before looking at Lucy in excitement, "good, now keep it there for as long as you can, I'm going to try and distract you. No matter what you have to keep your chakra steady," Lucy said and Sakura lasted for about 30 minutes before Lucy said Sasuke's name, nothing else just his name and she freaked. Her training forgotten as she looked around in excitement looking for her crush.

"oh Sasuke, where are you?" she called out and giggled,

"I guess you're not serious about training then," Lucy called out, she was honestly disappointed, she thought that Sakura would be serious enough to focus on her training and not be distracted by Sasuke,

"wait, I am," Sakura called out to her as Lucy started to walk away,

"if you don't get your infatuation for Sasuke under control it'll be the death of you, or worse your team," Lucy said firmly and Sakura flinched, Lucy knew that she was being a little harsh on Sakura considering she's civilian born and has no prior knowledge on what it's like to be a ninja. In fact, Sakura reminded Lucy of herself, when she first started out in Fairytail, "I'm not trying to be mean Sakura but you should take what I'm saying seriously, being distracted on a mission can be the difference between life and death,"

"I know that, it's in the shinobi rules of conduct," Sakura replied in frustration,

"I'm telling you because you don't know," Lucy said and put a hand on her hip, "why do you think that Genin need to take a specific amount of missions before they are allowed to compete in the Chunin exams?"

"How am I supposed to know," Sakura demanded,

"honestly, Sakura you're meant to have the sharpest mind on the team, its for experience purposes,"

"Experience?"

"Yes, let's compare you to Naruto for a second. You may have book smarts but Naruto has learnt to use his jutsu effectively in battle, this is because he has experience in using these techniques, well that and the pranks that he plays are actually a form of training," as Lucy explained this Sakura looked at her with doubt clear in her eyes, "think about it, setting traps, stealth and escape, yes they were all used erroneously but that doesn't mean that they weren't used," Lucy was starting to get a little impatient with Sakura but she managed to hide it well, "you might learn better with books but that won't help you with physical training, not unless you do it. Now either started again or go home and don't come back tomorrow," Lucy said firmly and Sakura flinched at her tone but she didn't leave. For the rest of the day Lucy was distracting Sakura and slowly she kept her concentration going even when Lucy made a clone to look like Sasuke appear in front of her, although Sakura still acted the same whenever Sasuke was mentioned or present she didn't lose her composure when it came to focusing her chakra.

"Alright that's enough for today, tomorrow I want you to meditate until I get here. That will slowly increase your chakra," Lucy said as she started to walk away, Sakura was on the ground breathing heavily,

"What exactly are you so busy with anyway," Sakura called out,

"I'm training with Ino first thing in the morning then I have to run through some drills with Kiba, Shino and Hinata before coming here," at Lucy's words Sakura looked betrayed, "What, you didn't think you were the only one I was helping for the Chunin exams did you? I am a Co-Sensei for all the rookie teams, I can't favour just one. Besides they asked me personally to train them when they got their application forms," was all Lucy said before she made her way back to Kakashi's place where she found him a stack of papers, "Wow Kakashi, you read things besides that pervy series?" Lucy teasingly asked and Kakashi jumped in surprise,

"Yeah, this is surprisingly interesting, I have a question though, how did that infinity clock stuff work, I don't quite understand," Kakashi said and Lucy was confused before she looked at the cover of the stack of papers,

"My manuscript," Lucy shouted and snatched it off of him, "How dare you read my private property," she hugged the stack of papers to her chest,

"Hey, I was just getting to the good part,"

"Forget it, I promised Levy she would be the first one to read it, as soon as I figure out a way to get it to her, I'll let you finish,"

"At least tell me what happens next," he begged as she started to walk up to her room,

"forget it," Lucy said as she continued to walk up the stairs.

 **Time skip**

Over the next few days Lucy was working with the rookie nine to develop their skills, with Shikamaru, Ino and Choji, they were working on their individual skills, considering their teamwork is pretty solid. Kiba, Shino and Hinata all had to work on their taijutsu training, while Kiba and Hinata were both skilled in this area, Hinata's shy, timid nature and Kiba's overconfidence got in the way while Shino didn't really have any taijutsu skills accept for the basics. Now as for Team 7, they had their work cut out for them, their teamwork was close to nothing and their individual skills are limited, yes even Sasuke's. Sasuke was too predictable, he's overconfident and uses his Sharingan as a way of bragging which drains his chakra faster and allows the enemy to see his weaknesses. Naruto just announces his attacks to his opponents and Sakura doesn't really do much except scold Naruto. Lucy was trying to hone their skills and increase what they were already good at while at the same time minimising their faults, easier said then done.

Lucy and Haku were also training, mostly working on their teamwork and coming up with attack strategies, "so for appearances, Gemini transform into me then I'll just change some features with a transformation jutsu and no one will suspect a thing," Lucy said as she and Haku sat at the dango stand, Lucy was eating a stick of dango and Haku was drinking one of their sweet soft drinks,

"right," he replied softly, "do you think we're ready for tomorrow?" he asked as he nursed is drink,

"Are you kidding me? We're going to rock it," Lucy exclaimed excitingly, "Think about it, you and I are the only ones with ANBU experience not only that but we've worked on our teamwork, we're golden. The rookies wouldn't stand a chance against us,"

"Haven't you been training them for the exams?" he asked her,

"Well yes but that doesn't mean the could beat us in a fight, some of them might last awhile but with our combo attacks, they won't be standing for very long," Lucy bragged,

"don't underestimate them, we still don't know anything about the other villages Genin's,"

"I know, I know, I won't let my guard down," with that Lucy paid for their meal and they both left the dango stand. Haku walked Lucy home and they promised to meet at the academy building the next morning. Lucy sighed as she walked through the house,

"You and Haku have been spending a lot of time together," Kakashi said from the kitchen,

"Well yeah, we are teammates after all," Lucy said as she walked into the kitchen to see Kakashi steaming some fish and vegetables,

"I see, so I take that you two are ready for tomorrow?" he said changing the subject,

"I think we got this, we just have to go over somethings tomorrow morning," Lucy said and yawned,

"You've been busy this week, training yourself and the rookies,"

"Yeah but they asked, well most of them did,"

"Sakura mentioned that you offered to train her for the exams, how is she doing?" Lucy paused for a second to think of a reply,

"better," she finally said,

"that's it, just better?"

"To be completely honest, she's not improving the way I hoped she would. No matter the progress we seem to make one day, it's completely wiped the next day. Like someone pressed a reset button on her, her chakra control isn't the problem, it's her mindset. Sakura doesn't have the mind of a shinobi, not yet at least, she hasn't experienced anything that would give her that mindset," Lucy explained, "doesn't matter how many times I tell her or show her she just doesn't seem to get the message, she needs to experience something that will give her the motivation to become a formidable shinobi,"

"Then why are you training her for the exams?"

"Because I think that the exams will give her that experience and I don't want to send her in blindly, that and because Sakura reminds me of me, a long time ago," Lucy sighed tiredly, "I was always the one getting captured or needing to be helped, coming here changed that though. While I was an independent, living on my own, when it came to the battle field, I still needed assistance, more so than others. I relied on them too much, always looking at them as they progressed and I seemed to stay in the same place," Lucy smiled sadly as she relived some memories of Fairytail, "I'm a lot different now to what I was back then, I can barely even recognise myself,"

"you are quite different now compared to when we first met, you were more naïve back then, still looked at life with nothing but hope. Now, you're a lot less trusting of people, you're still kind to them, you just don't trust them," Kakashi sighed out and rubbed the back of his neck, "It's why I begged the Hokage to wait to make you a ninja, obviously he didn't listen to me,"

"you did that?"

"Yeah, I knew that you didn't want to be a shinobi, to be honest I didn't want you to be a shinobi. I didn't want you to lose your outlook on life," Kakashi sat down at the table and placed a plate in front of the both of them, Lucy thanked him but still was smiling sadly,

"I'm scared to go back," Lucy whispered,

"go back? To Earthland?" Kakashi asked and Lucy nodded, "I thought you wanted to go back more than anything?" he continued,

"I do," she said suddenly and snapped her head up to look at him, "It's just, I'm so different than what I was before. What if they don't like me this way," she said softly and tears started to well in her eyes, "what if they don't accept me like this,"

"Lucy that's crazy, if they're anything like you've told me they're going to love you no matter how much you change," Kakashi soothes softly,

"but what if they don't, I mean, look at how reluctant I was at becoming a ninja. The jobs that I've done and seen be done are illegal where I come from," Lucy cried out, Kakashi sighed and stood up, walking around the table toward her before kneeling in front of her,

"Hey, would you still love them if they were doing what you are?"

"Of course, I would," Lucy said with no hesitation, no doubts on her face,

"Well, why wouldn't they do the same for you?" he said lightly to her,

"I don't know," she whined out and started crying again, Kakashi sweatdropped at her,

"if worse comes to worse, you'll always have a home here," Kakashi pat her head, Lucy sniffed and nodded her head. Kakashi looked at her with an amused expression, _'honestly, you are such a drama queen,'_

Lucy held Kakashi's hand as he walked her to the academy building, they had left a little earlier so Kakashi could set up for team 7 and Lucy could get Gemini ready. Once they got their Kakashi stopped Lucy before she could go and join Haku, who was waiting for her by the stairs that lead up to the higher floors. "I know that you are completely capable and both yourself and Haku have an advantage over the rest of the Genin's but please be careful, the Hokage has expressed concern about a conspiracy of sorts. Don't let your guard down and don't give away too much too early," Lucy nodded her head at Kakashi's words and hugged him before she walked towards Haku.

"So, you two made up?" Haku said as Lucy came up to him,

"Yeah a couple of day ago," she said with a happy smile, "So you ready for this?" she asked and they both made their way up to the third floor of the building, they made their way past two familiar shinobi who were on the second floor.

 **Time Skip**

"Well, I see you decided to use a transformation jutsu to disguise your summons," Lord Hokage said as he looked at the three children in front of him, or what looked to be three children, in reality, one of them was in her twenties, the other was raised as an assassin and the third wasn't even human, "Now may I please have your application forms," he said politely as he held his hand out, all three of them passed their forms up and Lord Third looked at Gemini's, "Futago huh? I suppose that makes you Gemini?" Lord Hokage asked in amusement, "After all Futago means twins,"

"That's us, it's nice to meet you," Gemini said in a voice that sounded similar to Lucy, "Thank you for giving our Master a home," they said and bowed in appreciation, Lucy blushed,

"how many times must I ask you guys to call me by my name?" she grumbled out, the Hokage laughed,

"I'm happy to have someone like her in our village, now good luck you three and I hope to see you in the finals," with that he teleported out of the small room that they were in. Haku, Lucy and Gemini were observing everyone that came through the door,

"Gemini, make sure to bump into as many people as you can and give me as much information as possible, I'll make sure to tell Haku everything," Lucy said softly and for the next few hours, Gemini was walking around the giant room and appeared to be looking around but was actually subtlety touching at least one person per team, Lucy was giving Haku the names, villages, missions completed and run down of their skills quietly. It was then that Lucy heard a commotion at the entrance of the room, walking closer Lucy saw Sasuke and what looked to be Gai's student fighting, "Seriously?" she grumbled when she saw Sasuke get thrown through the air and Sakura was running to catch him, Lucy jumped towards them and appeared just as Sakura and Sasuke hit the floor, "Are you two, okay?"

"Lucy," Sakura exclaimed excitedly, Sasuke didn't say anything just looked away.

"Lee, you know the rules," Lucy heard Gai say to his student but when she turned around, she only saw a giant turtle, "that jutsu is forbidden," the noise came from the turtle, Naruto started to freak out and Lee tried to defend himself only to get scolded harshly by the turtle, "he's all yours Gai," the turtle said and Gai appeared on top of the turtle. Both Sakura and Naruto started to freak out about his looks,

"Lee," Gai called out,

"Yes sensei?" Lee said and turned around only to be punched in the face by Gai, "Idiot," Lucy sweatdropped at them while team 7 stared in shock. Gai and Lee both has tears running down their faces and then they started to hug one another. Team 7 looked at them in disgust, Sasuke mostly just looked pissed off though,

"Alright you two break it up, the exams are going to begin soon, you all should get registered," Lucy said and Gai stopped the speech that he was giving Lee to look at her,

"Well if it isn't my youthful flower, how are you?" Gai exclaimed excitedly and he scooped Lucy up in a hug,

"I'm good Gai-sensei," she said as he put her down,

"Sensei," all four Genin around them stared at them in shock,

"yes, when I first arrived to the village, Gai helped me refine my taijutsu skills," Lucy turned towards Gai, "By the way, thank you for talking to Kakashi for me,"

"I take it that everything is okay?"

"Back to normal,"

"Wait you know Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked

"Do I know him?" Gai asked back rhetorically,

"Oh great, here we go," Lucy said under her breath while rolling her eyes, Gai disappeared from in front of them and appeared behind team 7,

"Kakashi and I are arch rivals," he said from behind them and team 7 looked at him surprised and kind of impressed, "the score is 50 to 49, I'm stronger than Kakashi," Gai said as he winked, "Isn't that right Lucy?" Gai said as he flashed his overly bright teeth at her,

"Sorry Gai but Kakashi is better, hands down," she said bluntly not wasting any time and Gai hunched over depressed,

"Why are you always on his side?" he yelled out in exaggeration, "Anyway you kids should head up to register now," with that Gai disappeared and Lee started to walk away,

"alright, I better get back to my team," Lucy said and was about to leave but Sakura stopped her,

"Team?" she questioned,

"yeah, I'm taking the exams too," she said and smirked slightly at their worried expressions, "I won't go easy on you guys," with that she jumped away.

Lucy was sitting at a desk in between two unknown shinobi in the middle back of the room with a test sheet in front of her, Haku was towards the front of the room next to one of the rookie 9 and Gemini or Futago was in the left back corner,

 _'_ _Miss Lucy, it seems that we are sitting next to a Chunin,'_ Gemini said silently to her through their key,

 _'_ _A Chunin? What's a Chunin doing here?'_

 _'_ _it appears like they were planted around the room because the test has questions that normal Genin can not answer,'_

 _'_ _so, the aim is to gather information without being detected? Do you have any ideas on how to get this information to Haku?'_ Lucy and Gemini continued to converse as Lucy slowly filled out her test,

 _'_ _maybe through one of his ice mirrors but we would need to signal him somehow,'_ Gemini suggested, Lucy started to tap her pen on the desk, _... .- -.- ..- -..- / .. - ... / .-.. ..- -.-. -.- .-.-.- / -. .- - ... . .-. / .- -. -.. / ... ... .- .-. . / .. -. ..-. - / .. ... / - ... . / -.- . -.- .-.-.-_ _(Haku, it's Lucy. Gather and share info is the key,)_

Not long after she heard tapping from across the room, ..- -. -.. . .-. ... - - - -.. _(understood)_ it was then that an ice mirror appeared above her head and Lucy quickly finished her test before she moved it into a place visibly accessible to the mirror and waited,

 _'_ _Miss Lucy, we are done,'_ Gemini said through their key

-.. - -. . _(done)_ Haku tapped out on the table from across the room,

 _'_ _Gemini, before the next exam begins, I want you to copy the proctor but only tell me about the conspiracy that Kakashi mentioned before, there's a familiar presence in this room that I don't like,'_ Lucy projected to her spirit,

 _'_ _Yes Miss,'_

"Okay, it's been 45 minutes, it's time for the 10th and final question," Ibiki called out in a gruff voice as, "but before that, I'm going to add one more rule," before he could continue Kankuro from the hidden sand village came out of the bathroom, "you're in luck, looks like the time you've spent playing with dolls wasn't completely wasted," Ibiki mocked and Lucy held back a smile at his not so hidden meaning, "let me explain, this rule is absolute," he finished and a couple of the Genin swallowed a lump in their throats.

"It seems that with our students in the exams we've got some free time," Kakashi said to Kurenai and Asuma whom were sitting in front of them, "it's not like we can go on training missions without them," he continued, his tone of voice bored, like he was waiting for something to happen but wouldn't care even if it did,

"Don't worry, we'll probably be busy again before you know it," Asuma said, in his mouth was his usual smoke,

"Why's that?" Kakashi questioned,

"as it would happen, this year the first proctor is Ibiki Morino," at Asuma's words Kakashi felt his shoulders sag and his bored expression turned into one of displeasure

"That sadist? Why did it have to be Ibiki?" Kakashi questioned again, _'at this rate only Lucy will make it through the first test,'_

"Sadist?" Kurenai asked and broke Kakashi out of his thoughts,

"Ah that's right, you haven't officially met Ibiki have you? You're still quite new to being a Jonin," Asuma said to her,

"Why? What's he like?" Kurenai felt her curiosity show on her face,

"to put it simply, he's a pro's pro,"

"A pro? At what?"

"Torture and interrogation," Asuma answered and took his some out of his mouth and blew out a stream of murky white and grey clouds, Kurenai's face change into one of shock. "That Ibiki, he understands a human's heart completely, that what makes him so terrifying. He uses those insights to mercilessly manipulate his enemies, bringing their weaknesses to the surface and uses them to make them crack. Trickery is no defence against his skills as an interrogator,"

After Kankuro sat down all of the Genin were sitting there waiting for Ibiki to explain what the new rule was going to be, "First you must choose, whether to accept or reject this tenth question," Ibiki announced and everyone was either confused or shocked,

"Choose? What if someone doesn't accept the question?" Temari of the hidden sand asked,

"If you reject the question and don't even try to answer it, you'll lose all of your points immediately and fail. Not only that but both of your teammates fail as well," at Ibiki's statement the Genin burst out in protest, while Lucy, Gemini and Haku remained silent but were curious nonetheless,

"Why would someone choose to reject it?" someone yelled out over the top of everyone,

"because of the next part of the rule," at this people started to quiet down, "if you try to answer the question and you get it wrong, you will never be allowed to apply for the Chunin exams again, not ever,"

"you can't be serious, that's ridiculous. There are ninja here who have taken the exams already, we know there are," Kiba burst out in anger, Lucy looked at each of the rookie 9 and saw that half of them were shaking and the other half were angry, Shikamaru was just sleeping.

"too bad for you that you have me as your proctor this year, all the other years there have been others less intimidating than me," Ibiki said smirking slightly at everyone in the room, "so you can either take a failing grade now and try again later or you can risk your entire ninja career on just one question," everyone looked tense as Ibiki continued, "Those who choose not to accept raise your hands, once your number has been confirmed, you can leave the room," at that Ibiki paused and waited for everyone to make their decision, but after a couple of minutes and hands started going up and people started leaving the room. Lucy began to wonder why Ibiki was waiting so long for people to make their choice,

 _'_ _is your choice the answer? Is this actually the final question? Ibiki you sly sadist,'_ Lucy thought to herself and let out a smirk before she started tapping on her desk with her pen and spoke silently to Gemini through their key, " _\- ... . / -.-. ... - .. -.-. . / .. ... / - ... . / ..-. .. -. .- .-.. / -.- ..- . ... - .. - -. .-.-.- / -.. - -. .-. - / .-. . .- . -.-. - / - ... . / -.- ..- . ... - .. - -."_

 _'_ _the choice is the final question. Don't reject the question'_

Their replies came not a moment later, "..- -. -.. . .-. ... - - - -.." _'understood,'_

 _'_ _Yes Miss,'_

Lucy had lowered her eye lids slightly and put her lips into a neutral position, her teammates followed suit and Ibiki let his eyes wander over whoever was left in the room. When his eyes reached Lucy, he felt his lips curve slightly into smirk, _'so the brat has figured it out and she used Morse code as a way of communication. I don't even think half of the people my age know Morse code, only those in the ANBU would have had to learn it,'_ his gaze made it's way to Naruto who was shaking like a leaf and he smirked as he saw him raise his hand, Lucy had to physically hold back a gasp at what she was seeing,

 _'_ _this isn't the Naruto I know, no matter the pressure he's under he never gives up. Even when he should,'_ Lucy thought desperately but she saw his hand swing down fast upon the table in front of him and it made a loud bang that resounded throughout the room and got everyone else's attention,

"Don't you underestimate me, I don't quit and I won't run," Naruto shouted, a majority of the Genin were looking at Naruto in shock as he continued, "I'll accept your stupid question, even if I end up a Genin for the rest of my life, I'll still become Hokage. Even if I only make it by pure stubbornness I don't care, I'm not afraid of you," he glared up at Ibiki, Sasuke felt himself sigh in slight disappointment at Naruto's lack of thought in his teammates but still managed to smirk, Sakura was smiling slightly at Naruto's words. Sakura might never admit to it but she really admires Naruto's strong will despite him being an idiot. Lucy forgot about her nonchalant mask and smiled at Naruto fondly,

 _'he reminds me so much of Natsu sometimes its crazy,'_ Lucy thought to herself and she let her mind run back to the speech that Natsu made during the Grand Magic Games, during the chariot battle when he and Gajeel got motion sickness along with Sting.

"I'll ask you one last time, this is a decision that could affect the rest of your life, quit now while you still can," Ibiki said and broke Lucy out of her thoughts,

"I never go back on my word, stubbornness is a part of my ninja skill set," Naruto said confidently and smirked back,

 _'Interesting, he seems to have cast out everyone else's doubts with just his words alone, there are 81 Genin still left although it's more than I expected but it's not like anyone else is going to quit now,'_ At this thought Ibiki glanced at the Chunin who were situated at the sides of the room observing the contestants for cheaters, they all nodded their heads in agreement, "So everyone in this room that is still here, you've just passed the first exam," Ibiki declared and a whole lot of Genin's looked shocked,

"What do you mean passed?" Sakura shouted over the room, "when did that happen, what about the tenth question?"

"Lucy, you understand right?" Ibiki asked knowingly with a smile and everyone turned to look at her,

"I'm meant to be laying low," Lucy grumbled to herself as she began to explain, "There is no tenth question, not technically anyway,"

"What do you mean Lucy?" Sakura asked,

"Then why did we have to suffer through the other nine questions?" Temari shouted, "That was a total waste of our time,"

"did you think they were just going to make it easy for you? These are the Chunin exams, everything they do is for a reason, there was no waste," Lucy sighed exasperated, "those questions had a purpose, they were there to test our information gathering skills, that's why they had put a limit on the amount of times you could be caught cheating,"

"Gathering information?" Temari said,

"Remember the rules in the beginning? We have to pass as a three-man squad, with that playing in our minds they pressured us to think that anything we did wrong would bring our teammates down with us," Lucy said matter of factly,

"Huh, I figured that was it," Naruto bragged before Lucy could continue,

"However," Lucy said loudly trying to draw the attention back to her so she could explain, "the questions are beyond the level of regular Genin, so most of us here would have realised that and had only one way of passing the test, which was to cheat. In other words, the test was set up under the assumption that we'd cheat and they placed two Chunin levelled ninja in this test who already know all of the answer to ensure that we had someone to cheat off of," at the last part of Lucy's explanation the two Chunin who were a part of the test tensed in surprise,

"why am I not surprised that you figured that part out?" Ibiki asked hypothetically,

"Yeah of course, any idiot could have figured it out," Naruto suddenly declared as he put his arms behind his head in a carefree matter,

"Anyone who cheated in a clumsy way failed, of course," Ibiki carried on with the explanation in place of Lucy, "because there may be circumstances where being caught in an act of espionage can cost you more than just your life," Ibiki took off his headband and bandanna, a whole lot of the Genin gasped at the sight of the burns on Ibiki's head and half of his face, "you pay in ways that can be taken from you little by little, time and time again, when many lives hang in the balance. The information you gained can't be trusted if you can't keep your presence secret from the enemy. Learn that and learn it well, if you if you bring back intelligence from a suspect or a compromised source , you'd only be doing your enemy a favour by putting your own at risk, that's why we pushed you into a position that would make you use those skills to cheat, it was the quickest way of weeding out the students whose skills weren't up to scratch,"

"what was with the tenth question then?" Temari asked sceptical,

"the tenth question was the first real test on this exam," at everyone's confused look Ibiki begun to explain, "the tenth question was a choice between two options that were both difficult and dangerous, those who chose to reject were failed and their friends along with them. Those who chose to accept and couldn't answer the questions lost any chance of ever even trying again. It was an unfair, no-win set of options. So, the question is, why did I present them? Let's suppose you all go on to successfully attain the rank of Chunin, you are assigned to steal a vital enemy document, knowing nothing about the skills, development or military preparedness or your foe. You may have to cross a territory that has been heavily mined and set with traps. Now, do you accept your mission? Or do you reject it? Rather than place your own life or the lives of your comrades in danger could any Chunin get away with only taking on the safe jobs? Of course, not, no matter how dangerous the risk, there will be missions that you cannot decline. A ninja must demonstrate fearlessness that inspires those around him, helping all to overcome their fear. This is the talent that we most value in the captain od a Chunin team, those who can't gamble with their own fate who would trade todays certain for tomorrows risk, never taking the chance that lies before them are weaklings who only make weak decisions, in my opinion, they don't belong in the ranks of the Chunin at all." At Ibiki's words, Naruto started to smirk, "by choosing to accept, you answered the almost insoluble tenth question correctly. You've passed the first hurdle of the Chunin selection exam is now finished,"

"Yeah, we did it," Naruto shouted and at that moment one of the windows on the side of the room shattered and something flew through it,

 _'this presence feels familiar, oh no, not her, anyone but her,'_ Lucy thought to herself desperately and looked towards Ibiki with a look of despair, only to be met with a shame filled nod in return. Lucy led her head fall to the table with a loud smack and startled the person sitting bedside her, who was now looking at her like she was the weirdest person they had ever seen,

"None of you are in any position to celebrate," the eccentric black-haired lady with a short orange skirt and fishnet shirt yelled out, her trench coat billowed around her from her excessive movement and settled back at her sides, "I am the second proctor, Anko Mitarashi, now time's a wasting, let's go, follow me," Anko shouted and put her hand in the air,

"Can't you sense the mood in here?" Ibiki asked her and Anko started to blush,

"She reminds me of Naruto," Sakura said out loud,

"Why do I surround myself with these people?" Lucy whined,

"eighty-one are still here? Ibiki, you passed twenty-seven teams?" Anko asked, "you went way too easy on them,"

"This year we have some exceptional applicants," Ibiki smirked at her,

"Yeah right, I'll cut down the number of teams by half before the next exam if finished," Anko let our her sadistic smile and let a dark look pass over her eyes, "I'm getting excited just thinking about it, I'll explain thing in detail as soon as we get to the next location so follow me," with that everyone got up and followed Anko to the next exam sight.

Walking behind everyone Lucy began to converse silently with Gemini, _'It appears that Lord Hokage didn't want to tell you but Orochimaru seems to have infiltrated the village and is now posing as one of the Genin competitors, they suspect that his team is also in allegiance with him for now there is no further information,'_ Gemini said and Lucy had to force her panic down,

 _'the Hokage knew about this and still sent me into the exams? Has he forgotten where I was found? What is he thinking? Why doesn't he just postpone the exams for a month or something?'_ Lucy's mind started to race and her heart started to pound in her chest. Not many things seem to scare her anymore but just the thought of Orochimaru and Lucy had to force herself not to panic. Lucy started to remember about the trouble she had settling in to the village, she woke up almost every night from a nightmare and tried to scrub her hands clean. She always ended up going to the roof of Kakashi's house and try to calm herself under the stars, it always seemed to work on Earth Land but for some reason it never worked for her in the village. Kakashi always seemed to wake up and be the one to calm her down enough for her to go back to sleep, like she does for him sometimes.

"This is where the next exams will be held, training ground 44, otherwise known as the forest of death," Anko said and broke Lucy out of her conversation with Gemini,

"It looks really creepy in there," Sakura said from her place behind Naruto,

"Trust me, it's worse than it looks," Lucy spoke up from behind them,

"And you're about to find that out for yourselves," Anko took over, "why they call it the forest of death," Naruto started to mock Anko and Lucy sighed in exasperation and rubbed her forehead,

"I want to just get this second exam over with, I really need to have a word with the Hokage," Lucy grumbled next to Haku and he turned to look at her with confusion swimming in his eyes, "lets just say that it's not a happy word," at this he looked at her slightly worried but she waved him off with a smile and tried to extinguish his doubts, it didn't work. Especially because Lucy swallowed deeply looking at the Kunoichi with the long tongue giving Anko back her kunai knife from when she threw it at Naruto. Lucy watched the whole exchange between them trying to hold back her fear, when the grass kunoichi turned around as Anko started explaining the consent forms she froze. The kunoichi lifted up her hat slightly and looked at Lucy before licking her lips with her overly long tongue and smirked before turning around to pay attention to Anko.

 _'Gemini, keep an eye on that Grass Ninja and her team, I think it might actually be Orochimaru. I'd know that sick look anywhere,'_ Lucy said silently to her spirit,

 _'Of course, I'll try to get as much info as I can,'_ Gemini replied,

 _'thank you, do you think you could copy Kabuto as well? I find it weird that he's taken these exams so many times and his Genin teacher hasn't pulled him from them yet,'_ Lucy added on,

 _'Yes Miss Lucy,'_

"Lucy?" Haku called out to her and cut her off from conversing with Gemini, when Lucy looked over at him, he held out a consent form for her to sign and told her about the purpose of the second test to her and the rules, "are you sure you're okay?" he asked her once he finished,

"it's almost time to distribute the scrolls," someone called from behind a covered shack that Lucy hadn't noticed before,

"I'll fill you in once the second test starts," Lucy said in a hushed tone as people started to walk towards the shack and one team at a time went in and came out, none of them appeared to be hold the scroll and all of them tried to cover up how nervous they were.

"So, when she said that more than half of us wouldn't make it, it's because the thirteen teams whose scrolls where stolen will fail," Sakura realised out loud,

"You bet, and there's a time limit, you have 120 hours in which the complete this exam, exactly five days," Anko said and Choji started to freak out about what to do for food, "That's your problem, the forest is full of animals and plants but it's also filled with man eating animals, deadly insects and poisonous plants, there's no way thirteen teams will pass this. As the time shortens, the trials will come harder and faster with less recovery time for any mistakes, accidents or injuries, you'll be surrounded by enemies at all times so you'll have to sleep with one eye open," as she finished speaking the teams started making plans for who to aim for first, naturally everyone was aiming for the rookies, even the rookies were aiming for each other. Lucy sighed,

 _'if they were smart, they'd join forces for this match and make a well-guarded and secure base, leaving one or two teams at a time to go and get scrolls, aiming for every and any scroll at the end they could distribute them evenly and if anyone is missing out, they could ambush the teams that would rush towards the tower on the last day,'_ Lucy thought to herself, "Haku lets aim to take out the more experienced ninja this round, that way we only have to deal with the rookies for the third test," she whispered towards Haku and he nodded in agreement.

"Alright everyone, follow your proctors to your respective gates, then wait half an hour for the signal to sound, the exam will begin then," Anko shouted as the last team got their scroll, Lucy was walking behind the proctor and her team behind her, Haku had the scroll on display for everyone to see and all of the Genin eyed him hungrily. However, the proctor who gave them their scrolls smirked and chuckled behind his hand.

"Alright, we have thirty minutes to come up with a plan, should we finish quickly or make sure we cut the competition down?" Lucy asked as the proctor unlocked their gate,

"Let's do both, aim to finish before the second day begins and take out a couple of teams," Gemini or Futago said and both Lucy and Haku nodded,

"Okay, Ge I mean Futago, what information did you get on the other teams?" Lucy asked

"from what I could gather there are a lot of teams that are here on their third attempt and I gathered information on the ones that I thought were more dangerous than the others, based off of the amount of chakra each hold, the jutsu's that they know, genjutsu abilities and taijutsu training. I believe that we should go after one of the Waterfall teams, a Rain team and a Grass team. These ones in particular," Gemini started to explain, Lucy and Haku listened carefully, not paying attention to the impressed and slightly scared look of the proctor standing in front of their gate.

"The second stage of the Chunin exams starts now," Anko yelled and the gates opened, Lucy and her team shot through the gates and went to track down the first team they were going to defeat. When all of a sudden, they heard a loud scream coming from with in the forest, further in than they were but not too close to the tower,

"It appears that people have started setting up traps closer to the tower, do we have a plan on getting to it without being caught in any?" Haku questions his other two teammates,

"I suppose we could go above them," Lucy muttered,

"Above?" Haku wondered out loud,

"Yes, I've been working on a new jutsu, it's not really for travelling purposes but with Gemini's help it could get us there," Lucy continued on running at a normal pace, to conserve energy and chakra.

"Well we have that sorted, now remember the plan, our first targets are the Grass team," Gemini said over the top of them,

"Right," both Lucy and Haku said,

"Wait, Lucy you said you were going to tell me something once the test started," Haku remined her and Lucy sighed before turning to look at him,

"I did say that didn't I? Okay, well I asked Gemini to copy some of Anko's memories and before you ask it has nothing to do with the exam. Someone has infiltrated the village and I wanted to know who it was and how they got in, they posed as a Genin and are currently taking the Chunin exams with us," Lucy said,

"Who is it?" Haku asked,

"Someone from my past, someone I never wanted to encounter again for as long as I lived. He goes by Orochimaru, he was one of the three legendary ninjas of the Leaf back in the day," Lucy said sternly, she felt herself frown as she looked forwards and away from Haku,

"Wait, he's a rogue, isn't he? How is he a part of your past?"

"because he captured me one year before I came to the Leaf," Haku looked at Lucy in surprise but stopped with the questions because of the cold look on her face, he's never seen that look on her face before. Lucy was always so vibrant and naïve, or so it seemed to him anyway,

 _'Maybe I don't know Lucy as well as I thought I did,'_ Haku thought to himself as Lucy signalled for him and Gemini to stop running and she jumped into a tree above them, Gemini hid in a bush while Haku started to walk towards the opening that held the unsuspecting Grass team.

 **With Team 7**

"Did you hear that? This place is scaring me," Sakura said with a worried tone,

"Don't worry Sakura, this place is no big deal," Naruto bragged before he paused, "Uhh, I got to pee," he said and started to unzip his pants while facing a tree,

"Not in front of me you don't" Sakura yelled and punched Naruto into the direction of the bushes that were not too far away,

"Ahh that felt good," Naruto said as he came into the clearing once again but Sasuke frowned at him while Sakura started to scold him once again, Sasuke suddenly punched him in the face and quickly turned to kick him into a tree in front of them,

"S-Sasuke, I appreciate the chivalry but that was going too far," Sakura said,

"What have you done with Naruto," Sasuke said, ignoring Sakura completely,

"I'm right in front of you," Naruto said while rubbing his cheek,

"You're wearing your shuriken throwing stars on your left thigh, Naruto is right handed and you forgot the cut that Naruto got from the proctor before the exam started. You're even worse at disguise jutsu than the real Naruto," Sasuke explained at this Sakura looked at what appeared to be Naruto in realisation before the unknown ninja undid the transformation technique,

"Since you've forced me to come clean why don't you do the same? Which one of you has the scroll? Unfortunately, you've forced me to be direct," the ninja said, he had a type of gas mask on and a forehead protector showing that he was from the rain. The Rain nin started to dash towards Sakura while Sasuke jumped into the air and started performing hand signs,

"Fire style: Phoenix flame jutsu," he said and took a deep breath before and letting it out towards the masked Rain ninja, the rain ninja started to dodge the fire balls that were coming towards him and Sasuke used this moment to go find Naruto. Locating him not too far into the forest Sasuke threw him a kunai and the Rain ninja decided to attack once again,

"You left yourself open," he rasped out and threw three kunai towards Sasuke, Sasuke grabbed onto the branch and lifted himself over it where the kunai knives landed and stuck into the branch. Sasuke was about to sigh in relief when he spotted a piece of paper hanging off of one of the kunai knives,

"An exploding tag," Sasuke said out loud, having no time to move the tag exploded and Sasuke landed on the ground with burns and bark scratching him,

"One wrong move and I'll kill you, now hand over the scroll," the rain ninja said as he appeared behind Sasuke,

"Sasuke," Sakura shouted as she finally caught up and landed on a branch not too far from them, Sasuke suddenly smirked as a kunai started heading towards the rain shinobi and the ninja had to jump in order to dodge it,

"You're not getting away that easy," Naruto yelled and Sasuke smirked at him before stepping on the kunai knife that landed behind him and adding chakra to that foot,

 _'Chakra will hold this to the sole of my shoe,'_ Sasuke thought to himself before he swung his leg and extended his foot, the kunai came flying off of it and embedded itself into the Rain ninja, Sasuke ran after it and appeared in front of the kunai only to shove it further into the Rain ninja's arm.

"Sasuke," Sakura shouted in disbelief,

"he gave me no choice; now move we don't know where his teammates are. You got that? Keep standing there and you'll end up dead," Sasuke shouted back, once Sasuke finished shouting the Rain ninja jumped back into the trees and retreated.

 **With Team Lucy**

Lucy was observing the Grass shinobi from her place in the tree as Haku walked into the clearing where they were standing, Haku pretended to be shocked that he found the team and started to look around nervously,

"Well, well, it looks like this one is without his team and he has a scroll, how unfortunate for him," giggle the grass kunoichi, she had a surprisingly soft voice, like she could put you to sleep if she sang a lullaby,

"Just give us your scroll kid and you won't be hurt," said the tallest shinobi standing in the back, he had muscular arms and legs, his long hair tied behind his head, Haku shook his head nervously while clutching the scroll to his chest and the shinobi sighed, "Look, it's three against one so why don't you just hand over your scroll and go back to your team," he said growing impatient,

"Enough standing around let's just take it," the short male said and he started to perform hand signs, "Earth style: flying stones jutsu," he shouted and slammed him hands onto the ground, rocks started flying towards Haku but he jumped out of the way and landed on the tree opposite Lucy. Lucy then jumped down and landed in front of the only female in the Grass team,

"oh? What's this? So, it was a set up from the beginning?" the Grass nin cooed softly, she made the ram hand sign, the basis of all genjutsu techniques and attempted to put Lucy under a genjutsu, Lucy felt slightly dizzy but as soon as the Grass nin took a step towards her Lucy gathered chakra into her fist and slammed it onto the ground, creating a large crater in front of the kunoichi. All of the Grass ninja took a step back at the sight and it was at that time that Haku and Gemini decided to make their appearance and both landed besides Lucy.

"Would you mind saving us the trouble and handing us your scroll?" Lucy said tauntingly and became amused at them taking a defensive position, "Suit yourself," Lucy said before she nodded towards Haku and Gemini. Haku and Lucy put their hands together while Gemini jumped back into the trees, ready to try and locate the Grass ninja's scroll,

"Water, Ice style:" both Haku and Lucy shouted together as they started to combine their jutsu's, "Crystal wall jutsu" Haku yelled at the same time as Lucy yelled,

"Water wall jutsu," Ice started to formulate all over the area while Lucy made water appear in front of them before pushing it forwards, Haku's jutsu making the air cold enough that the water started to freeze whilst it was moving. Creating a frozen wave, covering the grass ninja and freezing them in place. Gemini jumped down from their place in the trees above while Lucy was scratching the back of her head, "I honestly thought they were going to last longer than that," she sighed out and activated her dojutsu to look for their scroll, "the kunoichi has it, maybe they figured it would be safer with a genjutsu user," she wondered out loud before walking towards where the female was frozen in place. Gathering a small amount of chakra into her fingertips she punctured the ice three times before it shattered around the kunoichi, the kunoichi scrambled back in fear,

"Please don't hurt me, I'll give you our scroll just leave me alone," the kunoichi cowered as she showed them their scroll, Lucy snatched it off of her before scowling at the genjutsu user,

"funny how you only beg for your safety while your teammates are frozen," Lucy said sternly and her tone caused the kunoichi to flinch, "Earth style: head hunter jutsu," Lucy shouted and went underneath the kunoichi and pulled her into the ground, leaving her head above it so she could breathe. Then she walked over to the two shinobi and freed their heads out of the ice, so they could also breathe, "We'll be taking our leave now, good luck getting out of our ice and the ground," Lucy called out to them as herself and her team walked away.

"oh, they had an earth scroll, the same as us," Lucy sighed out before putting the scroll into her ninja pouch, "that's one team down and two more to go," she said brightly and they started to make their way towards the Waterfall team they were trying to track down.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 39**

Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto all sat down underneath the large trees in the area, "remember this, if we get separated again, we can't trust each other blindly, it could end up the way this did." Sasuke explains as he wiped some blood off of his face,

"but what can we do?" Sakura asked,

"The safest thing is for us to have a password, that way we'll know, no matter who they look like or how they sound, if one of us gets that wrong, they're the enemy," Sasuke explains, "Listen very carefully, I'll only say it once. It's a poem called 'Ninja Opportunity,' when I ask for it, here's how you respond. 'We thrive in the chaos of the enemy tide. Quiet shinobi don't need dens to hide. Our only concern is to watch and wait, until the enemy lowers the gate," Sasuke finished, he watched Sakura smirk and Naruto thin his lips until they are nothing but a straight line,

"Got it," Sakura said proudly,

"How exactly do you expect me to remember that?" Naruto asked obnoxiously,

"You idiot, I already memorised it," Sakura said,

"We need a better password, how about 'Swordfish'?" Naruto asked and Sasuke stood up,

"I'll take the scroll," Sasuke said and he just got a hold of it as the wind started to pick up, "another enemy?" Sasuke yelled out as the wind blew them all in different directions. Sasuke landed in a bush where he hid for a few minutes before seeing Sakura and he stood up,

"Sasuke," she shouted excitedly before Sasuke held up a kunai,

"Don't come any closer, what's the password? The Ninja Opportunity?" Sasuke asked,

"oh right, 'we thrive in the chaos of the enemy tide. Quiet shinobi don't need dens to hide. Our only concern is to watch and wait until the enemy lowers the gate'," Sakura recited perfectly and Sasuke lowered his kunai before Naruto came into view and he held up the kunai again,

"Naruto the password?" he asked and Naruto smiled,

"Right, the Ninja Opportunity. We thrive in the chaos of the enemy tide. Quiet shinobi don't need dens to hide. Our only concern is to watch and wait until the enemy lowers the gate," Naruto recited and Sakura let out a breath of relief but Sasuke smirked before throwing the kunai towards Naruto.

"hey, what the big idea?" Naruto shouted,

"What are you doing Sasuke? Naruto got the password right," Sakura exclaimed,

"This time, he's good enough to deflect my attack," Sasuke said ignoring Sakura,

"Now wait just a second," she shouted before the Naruto imposter smirked and undid the transformation,

"Well done, what gave me away?" the weird grass nin with the overly long tongue from before the exams begun asked,

"I knew you were eavesdropping from underground, listening to everything we said, that's why I chose that password. The real Naruto would never manage to memorise all of that," Sasuke smirked,

"I see, watch and wait huh? This is going to be more fun than I thought," the Grass ninja exclaimed as she took of her hat.

 **With Team Lucy**

Lucy, Haku and Gemini were all separated, each in different hiding spots, they were watching the Waterfall team and deciding which strategy to use, it had only been 40 minutes since the second exams started but Lucy was already getting grossed out by the forest. It didn't matter that she had been in there before it would always be creepy to her, Lucy snapped out of her thoughts as one of the Waterfall Shinobi wandered off to get firewood, _'this early into it? Are they just lazy or are they setting a trap?'_ Lucy thought to herself and she signalled to the other two that she was going to follow the shinobi. Lucy silently made her way after him only to have a kunai thrown her way and she jumped down from the tree and stood in front of the person that threw it,

"I know you and your team have been following mine, for about 10 minutes now, why haven't you made a move yet? You scared?" he taunted as he brought out another kunai,

"such confidence, is that why you separated from your team? Did you think that we would all follow you or just one of us? Whatever it doesn't matter, just tell me which one of you has the scroll and save us the time," Lucy said as she took her halberd off of her back, it would be the first time that she would have used it in the exams.

"like I would tell you, why don't you tell me what scroll you have and who holds it?" he said mockingly again and Lucy sighed,

 _'are all the Genin overly confident this year?'_ she wondered before deciding to just turn around and go find her teammates,

"h-hey, where are you going?" he shouted after her and Lucy waved her hand back at him dismissively,

"You intentionally split off from your team to get into a fight, you don't have the scroll, not even you could be that stupid," she called out not looking back at him before jumping off into the trees, leaving him with his mouth hanging open about to say something else. Lucy landed next to Gemini, "why don't we make this fight a little longer than the last?" Lucy whispered and Gemini looked at her confused, "while I might want to get out of this forest as quickly as possible, I think we should be testing these Genin to see if they are ready to be Chunin, the Grass team wasn't ready, that's why I left them stuck in ice and in the ground. Less of a chance for them to succeed," Lucy finished off,

"Yes Miss," came Gemini's reply and Lucy jumped towards Haku to explain her thoughts. Once she was finished Haku jumped down and landed in front of the two Genin that were waiting for their teammate to return,

"which one of you has the scroll?" Haku demanded to know,

"huh, isn't it a shame that you don't know where our scroll is and yet you have yours on display?" the male Waterfall ninja rhetorically asked,

"Kind of cocky, don't you think?" the kunoichi of the group giggle lightly, unlike the kunoichi form the Grass team, her voice wasn't soft, it had a rough tinge to it; like she was just getting over a cold. From within the trees above them Lucy activated her dojutsu, looking into the pouches of the Genin in front of Haku. Lucy grabbed her make-up mirror from her ninja pouch, something Kakashi scoffed at when he saw that she packed it into her things.

 _Flashback_

 _"Do you really need that?" Kakashi asked from his place leaning up against her bedroom door,_

 _"You never know when I might need it, besides what if my hair gets messed up?" Lucy replied and Kakashi sweatdropped at her reasoning,_

 _"will you really be thinking about your hair during the exams?"_

 _"Just because I'm going to be fighting for a rank like a barbarian doesn't mean I can't look good while doing it," Lucy said and Kakashi brought a hand to his face and rubbed the space between his eyes._

 _Flashback End_

Lucy snapped out of her thoughts by tilting the mirror in the direction of the sun and having the reflection bounce off of it. She moved the mirror around until the light's reflection landed on the male shinobi and she pulled it away before anyone other than Haku could notice.

 **With Team 7**

Naruto struggled to get up from his place on the ground, once he righted himself, he looked around, "Where did Sakura and Sasuke go?" he asked himself but a shadow overcast him and he looked up to see what it was only to freeze slightly, "I-It's huge," he shouted as he looked at the snake that was hovering above him. The snake moved and Naruto struggled to jump out of the way as it aimed for him, the snake moved behind Naruto and wrapped itself around him. Naruto hesitantly looked up at the snake only to it opening its mouth and started moving its head towards him, Naruto didn't even get time to scream before it became all dark, "it ate me," Naruto shouted in realisation before he started to struggle. "Multi Shadow clone jutsu," Naruto shouted and made a hand sign, Naruto kept multiplying his clones hoping that the snake would realise and open his mouth but it never did. Naruto and his clones ended up bursting through the snakes stomach, instantly killing it, "I'm the one who's going to be Hokage one day so don't mess with me," Naruto said as he stood in front of the snake corpse, "I've got better things to do than become a giant snake turd," he continued eloquently before he started to look for Sasuke and Sakura.

Further into the forest Sasuke and Sakura stared at the newly transformed kunoichi, "Another phony Naruto?" Sakura exclaimed loudly and she started to realise how Naruto would have actually acted about the password, she glared at the grass ninja as she started to speak,

"I suppose you'd want this scroll? Since I have an earth scroll and you've got a heaven scroll," she said and let her tongue roll out of her mouth before wrapping it around the scroll that she presented them and swallowing it whole, "now then, who will be stealing scrolls from whom?" she smirked after she finished stuffing the scroll down her throat and both Sasuke and Sakura stared at her in shock and disgust, "We'll fight to the death," the grass nin said and glared at them. Sasuke and Sakura both widened their eyes as a kunai suddenly appeared in their foreheads and they both fell to their knees, Sasuke leaned forward and puked before leaning back to try and steady his breathing. Sasuke was shaking as he turned to look at Sakura and saw that she had tears streaming down her face and was still caught in seeing her own death. While Sasuke had figured out that it was an illusion, Sakura was still trapped, "I imagine you're paralysed by now," the grass nin bragged and Sasuke slowly grabbed a kunai and subtly activated his Sharingan. As the grass nin threw a pair of kunai at them Sasuke dashed towards Sakura and grabbed her before jumping away, the kunai landing in place of where they used to be.

Sasuke settled himself and Sakura behind a tree not too far away from the malicious grass ninja and Sakura gasped as she looked at Sasuke who had a kunai lodged in his leg, "Sasuke, speak to me," Sakura tried to say but Sasuke covered her mouth as he looked behind the tree to see if they were followed. A giant snake dropped its head in between Sakura and Sasuke and Sakura tried to warn him but he still had his hand over her mouth, "Sasuke, snake," she finally managed to yell at him as she forcefully moved his hand and he jumped out of the way before the snake speed towards him.

The snake completely ignored Sakura and went after Sasuke, Sasuke threw several kunai at the snake who had its mouth open, ready to swallow Sasuke whole. Sasuke landed behind a tree breathing deeply, looking at the dead snake, his eyes widened as the snake started to tear and shred near its head.

"For shame, letting your guard down. Stay on your toes like a good prey should," the grass ninja said as she appeared from the shredded whole within the snake, "It makes the chase much more rewarding for the predator," she said, Sakura shivered at her tone and Sasuke was frozen in place and she sped towards him. Kunai and shuriken embedded itself into the tree stopping the grass nin in her tracks,

"Sorry Sasuke, I can't remember that stupid password," Naruto called out as he stood on top of a tree trunk close to where everyone was gathered on the ground.

 **With Team Lucy**

Haku was standing in front of the two ninjas when the third one from there group came back to join them, "so they finally revealed themselves huh?" he said and came to stand beside his team,

"Did you take care of the one that followed you Hibiki?" the kunoichi asked with confidence,

"ah well," he started but paused when Lucy jumped down in front of them,

"Well, did you Hibiki?" Lucy mockingly asked as she stood beside Haku and Hibiki's face turned red with anger, Gemini made their presence known by landing behind them. The Genin team turned around so that they were facing back to back in a triangle shape and brought out a kunai in front of them,

"It seems that they are going to make this harder than it needs to be," Haku said and Lucy smirked before she gathered chakra into her right fist,

"Then we should get started," Lucy yelled as her fist came in contact with the forest floor and she released the chakra stored inside of her fist upon impact, the ground started the split apart and the Genin from the Waterfall village jumped into the air to avoid its path. Before they could get to the trees above them Gemini jumped in front of them and kicked them into Haku, who grabbed the kunoichi of the group and held a throwing needle to her neck,

"The scroll for the girl," was all Haku said and the two male Waterfall Genin stilled, unsure of what to do, they looked at each other and then back to their teammate,

"The smart thing to do would be to give us your scroll and go find a tired team that already has both of their scrolls," Lucy said to them, trying to coax them into conceding, both of the boy got an angry look on their faces,

"but there's no guarantee that the others that are still in the forest have both of their scrolls," one of them shouted,

"why don't we make a deal?" Haku asked and Lucy looked at him in confusion, "we have two earth scrolls, if you have a heavens scroll we'll trade them, one earth for one heaven," he said,

 _'_ _this wasn't a part of the plan,'_ Lucy thought to herself while she looked at Haku, _'what are you thinking?'_ Lucy felt her brow furrow in thought, both waterfall boys looked at each other then back towards heir female teammate,

"but that still only leaves us with on scroll while you get both, that hardly seems fair," they said together and Lucy narrowed her eyes at them, before taking her halberd off of her back and adding lighting to the blade. The waterfall boys backed away slightly, they backed away further as Lucy gripped the handle but were surprised when she broke it in half. The top end that held the halberd blade turned into an axe and the bottom end turned into a katana, both had lighting added into the blades. Even Haku looked at her in surprise, he'd never seen her do that before,

"Daichi, Hibiki, take the damn deal," the kunoichi yelled only to yelp in surprise when Haku tightened his grip on her,

"but there's no guarantee," the one that was now identified as Daichi yelled out, at this Lucy put the lighting activated katana to the girls neck and Haku pressed his throwing needle deeper, creating a small cut that let some blood run down her neck,

"Daichi, Hibiki, please just trade the scroll," she whimpered, Daichi hesitantly reached into his ninja pouch and brought out their scroll,

"Daichi, what are you doing?" Hibiki questioned loudly,

"You heard them, we trade scrolls and they let Nanami go," Daichi said and was about to throw the scroll to Gemini who was now standing besides Lucy with the whip in hand,

"but then they are finished with the exam and we still have to go looking, they have two earth scrolls, if we beat them then we can pass the exam," Hibiki yelled back and tried to reason with his teammate,

"we'll still have a scroll, it's not like we'll be starting again," Daichi threw the scroll the Gemini and Haku let the girl now known as Nanami go, Haku reached into his pouch and brought out the earth scroll that they had gotten from the Grass team beforehand and threw it to them. Daichi caught it as Nanami hid behind him whilst throwing Hibiki a dirty look, "now that we've traded scrolls, why don't you go on your way," Daichi said sternly but Lucy was still looking at them with her weapons still activated with lightning. Haku pulled her away and they all started walking deeper into the forest.

Lucy snapped up her head and looked into the woods, "what is it?" Haku asked her,

"do you think you two can go after the third team by yourselves, I heard Sakura scream and with Orochimaru in the forest I want to check on them,

"Sure, Gemini will tell you where to meet us, be careful," Haku said and with that Lucy started heading towards Team 7, "why are you letting her go alone?" Gemini asked as they stood besides Haku,

"Because, if it is Orochimaru, then we need to tell someone," Haku said as they started to walk slowly into the woods, "and this would give Lucy a chance to get over her fear of him,"

 **With Team 7**

"This guy is out of our league Naruto," Sasuke yelled out, surprising Sakura and Naruto and he kept thinking of a way to get them all out of there alive as Naruto continued to make things worse, "If it's our scroll you want just take it and go," Sasuke yelled out as he held out the scroll. Again both Sakura and Naruto were surprised,

"Sasuke what the hell do you think you're doing?" Naruto yelled and he pointed down at him in frustration, "is this some way of beating the enemy? By handing over our only scroll?" Sasuke ignored him and only looked at the Grass ninja,

"so you instinctively know that your life lies in the chance of the predator being distracted by bait, what natural born prey you are," she said and laughed at her own form pf dark humour,

"Here," Sasuke yelled in response and threw the scroll towards her but Naruto jumped down from the tree above all of them and caught it while it was still in the air, "Stay out of this, you'll ruin everything," Sasuke yelled at Naruto, Naruto turned around with the scroll in his hands and punched Sasuke in the face, throwing him off of his feet, "What do you think you're doing?" Sasuke yelled as he sat up from his place on the ground,

"I forgot the password, so I can't prove it but this is obviously not the real Sasuke," Naruto said and Sakura looked startled at this declaration,

"Naruto, you idiot, I'm me," Sasuke glared at him,

"That's bull and you're the idiot. You're a coward, which Sasuke isn't so you're not him. I'm not so sure we need to be afraid of this guy and even if we did hand over our scroll there's no guarantee he'd spare us. So even if you were Sasuke I'd still be telling you you're an idiot and maybe a chicken too," Naruto shouted and both Sasuke and Sakura just looked at him, their stares were full of either realisation or shock,

"Naruto this is rich," said the grass ninja and all three Genin looked at her, "and you're right, why bargain when I can just kill you all and take it," the grass ninja pulled up her left sleeve and bit her right thumb. Naruto became angry and made a dash towards the grass ninja,

"Don't Naruto, stop," Sasuke yelled at him,

"Summoning jutsu," the grass ninja called out and a giant snake appeared below her, making her stand on its head. The snake moved towards Naruto, broke the branch that he was running on and sent him flying throughout the air.

"Naruto," both Sasuke and Sakura yelled as Naruto coughed up blood. Naruto started to fall and the grass ninja ordered the snake to eat him, as the snake and Naruto got closer to one another Naruto snapped his eyes opened and they were red. His pupil was slit in a straight line and his whiskered birthmarks had a feral look to them. The grass ninja made hand signs at the sight of Naruto's eyes and blew a huge gust of wind at him and sent him into a tree,

"It's Sasuke's turn next, how will he take it," the grass ninja yelled at sent the giant snake towards Sasuke. Sasuke froze in shock as Sakura yelled his name but no matter how close the snake got, he still didn't move, the snake came to an abrupt stop and Sasuke looked in shock to see Naruto standing in front of him with his back to the snake. Naruto had stopped it in its tracks with nothing but his body,

"You're not hurt are you," Naruto rasped out and Sasuke continued to look at him frozen, "you big chicken," Naruto continued an looked up at Sasuke with a smirk on his face, "hey, get off of me," Naruto yelled out as the Grass ninja's tongue wrapped around him and lifted him into the air. The grass ninja turned Naruto around to face her and laughed while completing some hand signs,

"so the nine-tails brat is still alive," the Grass ninja said and slammed her hand on Naruto's stomach, "five pronged seal," she said and Naruto screamed in pain,

"Sasuke, Naruto needs your help," Sakura screamed towards Sasuke who was still frozen. The grass ninja threw Naruto over her shoulder, "Naruto," Sakura called out in worry and threw a kunai at him that pinned him to a tree. Sakura let out a breath of relief before turning towards Sasuke, "Sasuke," she yelled at him and he still stood there frozen, "Naruto may be a knucklehead and he's clumsy, loud and sometimes he holds us back but at least he's not a coward," Sakura shouted at him and Sasuke clenched his eyes shut before snapping them open to reveal two, two comma Sharingan in each eye.

Sasuke took out a windmill shuriken, put a kunai in his mouth and four more in his free hand before jumping to the air, and throwing all of the kunai in his hand towards the grass ninja. The grass ninja dodged all of the kunai, Sasuke gripped onto a tree he was falling past and threw the windmill shuriken at her, only to have her jump over it. The grass ninja smirked in anticipation and Sasuke grabbed the kunai that he had left in his mouth and through it towards her, the grass ninja looked at the kunai that went straight past her and saw that it had string attached to it and turned around to look at the shuriken windmill that had stayed in place behind her, Sasuke had managed to trap her with the string and started making hand signs for a fire jutsu. Sasuke blew fire out of his mouth and watched at it travelled up the string that was attached to the kunai and hit the grass ninja,

"to think that you've mastered the Sharingan so young, yes I've decided that I want you after all," the grass ninja said as her face started to peal and melt away in the fire that hit her. Sakura jumped down besides Sasuke as the grass ninja started to talk, "you really are his brother aren't you? You can see and conceal things with eyes that not even Itachi possess," she said,

"Who the hell are you," Sasuke shouted back at her with a glare,

"I'm Orochimaru one of the Sannin, if you want a rematch then pass this exam as quickly as you can," Orochimaru stated as he burned their scroll and extended his neck and went towards Sasuke who was paralysed in place along with Sakura. Orochimaru was almost right in front of them when a blonde blur came and punched Orochimaru in the face. Orochimaru got flung back from the force and his head ended up landing behind his body because his neck was still long.

"Lucy," both Sasuke and Sakura called out,

"Are you two okay? Where's Naruto?" Lucy asked as she turned her head slightly to face them,

"He fell unconscious after that creepy ninja slammed his hand onto his stomach, he was falling so I stuck him to a tree with a kunai," Sakura explained, still paralysed,

"okay, first things first, getting you guys away from that snake as soon as possible," Lucy muttered as she glared at Orochimaru, trying not to show how scared she was,

"well, well, if it isn't my little champion, my how you've grown," Orochimaru hissed out as he stood back up with his neck no longer stretched,

"You know him Lucy?" Sasuke asked firmly, almost demanding,

"I'll explain after the exams," Lucy said and left no room for arguments, "Sasuke, Sakura I need you to listen to me very carefully," Lucy said as Orochimaru continued to look at them with a smirk, "whatever happens, the both of you and Naruto need to leave, if it comes down to it leave me behind," she said and Sakura gasped while Sasuke looked at her with wide eyes,

"forget it," Sasuke rasped out,

"Sasuke is right," Sakura said,

"I'm not asking," Lucy demanded, "this isn't like the mission in the wave country, this guy is specifically after Sasuke, you need to pass the exam and tell a Jonin that he is here, I will try to hold him off but you have to leave," Lucy pressed,

"but what about everything Kakashi-sensei said?" Sakura questioned,

"I'm not scum," Sasuke continued,

"what can you do? You're both either injured or exhausted, Naruto is passed out, he's in danger just hanging there, at this rate you'll only get in the way," Lucy reasoned and the both of them looked at her shocked, Lucy has never told them that they were burdens before, "I can't keep you guys safe and fight him, he's probably stronger than Kakashi," Lucy turned around to face them, "now either you guys do whatever it takes to leave or I'll make you," she said menacingly and activated her dojutsu, the Tenrou no Sacha as she had officially dubbed it before the exams begun.

"Well look at this, you've developed your own dojutsu, you certainly have come a long way since we last saw one another," Orochimaru said as Lucy turned back around to face Orochimaru, "maybe I'll take you instead," he hissed out,

"I'm never going to let that happen again," Lucy threatened, "Neither I nor Sasuke are going with you, if you want an experiment or a vessel you're just going to have to find it somewhere else,"

"So you figured out why I want him? Impressive, how did you figure it out?" Orochimaru asked and licked his lips which made Lucy cringe,

"Anko mentioned that you wanted to achieve two things in your shinobi career more than anything else, the first was to master all ninjutsu which is why you want the Sharingan," Lucy explained, "and the other goal is that you want immortality, so I started researching and with the information that Anko gave me from when you were training her and added in everything I knew I concluded that you found a way to transport yourself into a new body," Lucy said, Sakura cringed from behind her and Sasuke looked grossed out,

"yes, that's right," and with that Orochimaru attempted to bite Sasuke once again but Lucy jumped in the way,

"eight trigrams," Lucy said and held one hand behind her, above her head and one hand in front of her below her knees, she had one leg in front of her at a 45 degree angle and had her back tilted forwards, also at a 45 degree angle, "sixteen palms," she yelled and hit Orochimaru twice both ejecting her chakra into two of his pressure points, "two palms," she hit him twice again, "four palms," she hit him four times, "eight palms," and then another eight, "sixteen palms," she yelled and hit the sixteenth palm into his stomach and added more chakra, throwing him backwards.

"you've even developed your own taijutsu style, using the Hyuga formation, medical ninjutsu and pressure points," Orochimaru laughed out from his place on the ground as he tried to move and realised that she didn't block his chakra but punctured his nerves do that he couldn't move, "you really have come far from that mousy girl who only knew how to make weapons and do a couple of ninjutsu, say how is that teacher of yours? Axal was it?" at the mention of her past sensei she had to hold herself back from doing something stupid,

"you tell me, after all he was working for you, you know before I killed him," Lucy snarled out and both Sakura and Sasuke stared at Lucy in shock,

"Ahh yes, you stabbed him, didn't you? To save Kakashi Hatake if I'm not mistaken?" Orochimaru questioned, "well that sure was surprising, you saved someone that helped send you on a mission that got you captured again, in fact they sent you because it directly involved me,"

"yes and because of that I will never fully trust that old smoke filled Hokage ever again in fact there are a lot of reasons why I would never fully trust him," Lucy said sternly as she thought about Itachi, "but that has nothing to do with my loyalty to the leaf, the issues between the Hokage and I are personal, I would never take my anger or distrust out on innocent people,"

"Innocent? Anko knew what that mission was supposed to be but she let you get captured and was going to turn you into the Hokage with no explanation, you want to call that innocent?" Orochimaru continued,

"Maybe not but luckily for me they heard me out and after that I had proven my loyalty, more so than anyone else that I would protect the leaf to the best of my abilities," Lucy said and Orochimaru glared at her slightly,

"after all of that you would still protect them?" Orochimaru asked,

"better than being your little chained puppet," she said back. Orochimaru continued to glared at her from his place on the ground, he opened his mouth at let his tongue roll out, wrapped in it was a kunai that he flung towards her and countered by throwing her own and deflecting it, Sasuke had managed to free himself and Sakura by this time and were on their way to getting Naruto but Orochimaru had also gotten up. "how?" Lucy asked with wide eyes,

"heh, I was forcing chakra throughout my body while we were talking," was all he said before he started forming hand signs, "Hiding surface technique," with that he started to sink into the ground. Thinking quickly Lucy gathered chakra into her fist and brought it to the ground, it split apart as it always had and Orochimaru was standing in between the cracks made in the ground, "I see, you've been trained by Tsunade," Orochimaru said quietly, "this might make things difficult," he added and came at her head on.

Lucy jumped back not realising that Sasuke had left Naruto with Sakura not too far away and was standing behind her, Orochimaru's neck stretched once again and Lucy brought up a kunai to defend herself but was surprised to see him go around her, she quickly turned around and saw that Orochimaru was going for Sasuke once again but Lucy grabbed Orochimaru by his neck and started to pull it towards her, "Sasuke leave," Lucy shouted, quickly transformed into her Taurus stardress and roughly yanked Orochimaru back towards her and smashed his face with her fist, she followed his face with her fist and brought it to the ground, creating a crater underneath his head. Orochimaru's tongue was hanging out of his mouth and seemed to be unconscious, breathing deeply because of the chakra she expended in that one hit she turned towards Sasuke angry, "I told you to leave," she yelled,

"and I said to forget it," Sasuke glared back at her,

"now is not the time to let your pride run your actions Sasuke, I told you to go and tell someone that he's here and after you but you run head first into danger," Lucy scolded him and Sasuke glared at her even more, "where are Naruto and Sakura?" Lucy asked, having enough of the conversation and before Sasuke could answer a sword had gone straight through her stomach,

"Lucy," Sasuke shouted and Lucy kneeled heavily on the ground, standing behind her was Orochimaru with a sword coming out of his mouth, Orochimaru quickly swallowed the sword and extended his neck to bite Sasuke on the neck.

"No, damnit," Lucy grit her teeth as she attempted her heal herself,

"I look forward to seeing you again Sasuke, in your quest for power," Orochimaru said and took his teeth away from Sasuke's neck and began to sink into the ground once again,

"everything hurts," Sasuke gasped out as he kneeled on the ground in front of Lucy,

"Sasuke," Sakura shouted and she jumped down from her place in the tree and knelt beside Sasuke, "what did you do to him?" Sakura demanded from Orochimaru,

"Just something to remember me by," Orochimaru said and he disappeared into the ground completely, Sasuke screamed out in pain.

"Sasuke," Sakura tried to get his attention, "Hang on Sasuke," Sakura grabbed his hand and threaded her fingers through his, Sasuke squeezed her fingers as he continued to scream in pain, "Naruto," Sakura called out desperately "Naruto, Sasuke is," Sakura turned to Naruto only to see him passed out and remembered that he was unconscious, Sakura felt her eyes well up in tears and she started to sob. Lucy was still breathing heavily not too far away, still healing her stomach,

"Sakura," Lucy snapped at her and Sakura turned her head towards Lucy in surprise, as if she forgot that she was there, which she probably did, "Now is not the time to cry, get Naruto and Sasuke out of here, I will follow when I've finished healing myself, make sure they are both laying down in a cushioned area and put a damp cloth on their foreheads," Lucy instructed but Sakura continued to cry in despair, "Sakura Haruno," Lucy yelled and Sakura flinched at her tone of voice, "if there's one thing I learned in my time as a shinobi or the years before hand, is that you can always cry later," Lucy voice had a softer, gentler underlining tone to it but it was still firm, "right now, Sasuke and Naruto need you to pull it together and get them and yourself to safety," Sakura turned her head towards Sasuke and then towards Naruto, "now stand up Sakura, show me that this past week I've spent training you wasn't a waste of my time," Lucy shouted at her and Sakura lifted her head and her eyes were shining with newfound determination,

"Right," she said and wiped her eyes so that they were free of tears, she added a light layer of chakra to one of her arms, lifted Sasuke around the waist and jumped towards Naruto who was resting against a tree not too far away, she added a layer a chakra around her other arm and lifted Naruto up the same way. Sakura struggled to stand with the both of them weighing hr down but she managed to grip onto them and jumped away into the trees. _'Lucy is right, I can always cry later but for right now, I swear I will be the one protecting you, I will not let that hard work go to waste,'_ Sakura thought as she jumped through the trees, her breathing became heavy after a few short minutes and she decided to place both boys under a tree that had the roots bending over them, to make it look like a cave of sorts.

Meanwhile Lucy smiled softly as she watched Sakura awkwardly carry the boys away from her, _'she really does remind me of myself from my fairytail days, being in this world has made me less reliant on others because in this world, no one can save me but myself,'_ Lucy thought as she finished healing her stomach and she struggled to stand up from the lack of chakra, _'maybe starting that one hundred healing seal and continuing with my ethernano seal at the same time was a bad idea,'_ with that thought Lucy jumped towards where Sakura's smell was coming from and followed her.

"Sakura," Lucy whispered as she got to a clearing, "it's Lucy, I came to check up on the boys," she whispered as she walked forward,

"Lucy, we're here," Sakura said her voice was full of fear, "there's something wrong with Sasuke, whatever that ninja did to him, it looks like it's spreading," Sakura said, Lucy walked over to the tree where Sakura's voice came from and found all three of the under a cascade of roots, kneeling next to Sasuke first because he looked like he was in the most pain Lucy activated her Tenrou no Sacha and looked him over,

"I'm afraid that there's nothing I can doo for Sasuke at this time," when Lucy said this Sakura looked at her in fear, "this marking that Orochimaru left, feeds and festers on the chakra and body of it's carrier, it's like a parasite, only Sasuke's will can help him now, when this part of the exam is over and Sasuke can walk around I can seal the mark with Kakashi's help but for now all I can do is lessen his pain," Lucy's hands started to glow green and she placed them on the sides of his forehead. Sasuke's face that had been scrunched up in pain before had eased slightly but not completely, "There that should do it for now, as for Naruto, I already know what's wrong with him and again I can't do anything about it at the moment but he'll be fine with some rest," Sakura let out a breath of relief at her words. Lucy reached into her pouch and took out a bottle of pills, "here take these and give one each to the boys when they wake up," Lucy said and she handed Sakura the bottle,

"what are they?"

"they're food pills, I'm sure you know what they are used for,"

"yes, they are used to restore chakra and can sustain a ninja with nutrients for up to three days at most," Sakura responded,

"that's right, however I don't want you to take one until after the boys have woken up and you've gotten some rest, it could have too many side effects otherwise," Lucy warned,

 _'_ _Miss Lucy, Haku and I have defeated the Rain team, do you need any backup?'_ Gemini's voice rang through Lucy's head,

 _'_ _No, in fact I've done all I can here, I'll meet you two at the tower,'_ Lucy replied, "Sakura do you have any injuries that need tending too?" Lucy asked and Sakura shook her head, "okay, well I'm off to go and meet with my team, we've already gotten both of our scrolls so we're heading towards the tower. I hope to see you and the boys there soon," Lucy said and she jumped away before Sakura could protest.


	21. Chapter 21

Lucy had met up with Haku and Gemini before nightfall and they were on their way to the tower, "So this is what you meant when you said we could get to the tower by air," Haku said as he stood as still as he could on top of the water that surrounded them. Lucy was in her Aquarius star dress and had created a sphere of water for them all to stand inside, Gemini was also in an Aquarius star dress and was helping Lucy maneuver the water through the air.

"Pretty cool right?" She exclaimed excitedly, "this is the first time I've had three people with me, before it was just Plu or Pakkun," Haku turned to Lucy with his eyes wide, "Oh relax, Gemini is helping me, besides we're not high enough to cause death if we fall," Lucy explained as she rolled her eyes at Haku,

"Thank you that's very reassuring,"

"You're welcome," Lucy exclaimed happily not grasping that Haku was being sarcastic because of his plain tone of voice. They arrived at the tower just after the sun had set and they took out their scrolls, they had four of them. Two heaven and two earth, Lucy burned one of the heaven and one of the earth scrolls, "So should we open these two?"

"we should do it at the same time," Gemini told them and Lucy nodded before giving one of the scrolls to Haku,

"wait, what it this seal?" Haku questioned and Lucy's eyes widened,

"it's a summoning seal, quick, throw it," she demanded before she threw her own scroll towards the ground and they immediately went up in a puff of smoke,

"so you're already finished are you?" droned out a familiar voice and Lucy ran to it excited,

"Kakashi," she called out before she latched onto his waist and he placed his hand on her head,

"Why am I not surprised that it only took you a day to complete the second part of the exams?" Kakashi continued as he eyed Haku and Gemini, "nice to see you again Gemini," Kakashi nodded and Gemini responded in kind, "Haku," was all Kakashi said to greet the other official member of Lucy's team, Haku nodded his head stiffly but not in an unkind way, just unsure.

"If you do not possess Heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared and if you do not possess Earth, run through the fields and seek strength, do you guys know what this means?" Kakashi asked them after the pleasantries were out of the way when all three of them nodded Kakashi continued, "good that means that I don't have to explain it to you," and with that he poofed away,

"you are so lazy," Lucy shouted after him even though she knew that he could no longer hear her, "well come on lets enter the tower," Gemini had gone back to the spirit realm so Haku and Lucy were the only ones to enter the tower, inside there was only one other team. The sand siblings, "Your names were, Kankuro, Temari and Gaara right?" Lucy asked them, her mouth had a wide smile placed upon it, Gaara's eyes widened and he looked away, _'that's strange he did that the last time too,'_ Lucy thought to herself.

Temari nodded her head, "that's right, we are the sand siblings, first ones to arrive to the tower," she bragged as if Lucy didn't know who she was, "you're that little blonde that saved that snot nosed brat from my brother,"

"Yes my name is Lucy," Lucy reminded them,

"You really are a cutie aren't you?" Kankuro said slyly and smirked as he put a hand to his chin. Temari rolled her eyes at him while Gaara still had his eyes turned away, "why don't you and I take a walk around the tower and get to know one another?" He continued and started to walk forward only to be stopped by Haku,

"I would advise you to stay away from my teammate," he said in his usual monotone voice,

"What's your problem, I'm trying to be friendly," Kankuro demanded,

"It wouldn't be a good idea to get to know potential opponents just yet and besides if you did get too close I doubt a certain Leaf Jonin would like it very much," Haku said and Lucy blushed slightly at Haku's statement knowing that he was right.

Whenever a boy got interested in Lucy that wasn't in a family or friends kind of way like Naruto and Sasuke, Kakashi always ended up death staring them. It happened more often then not nowadays. Lucy could remember when Kakashi would just ignore those boys but as they became more frequent he started getting annoyed by their constant attempts at flirting with her.

Lucy quickly pulled Haku away and towards the rooms that had been set up for the teams that made it late at night. Once morning came around they were allowed to roam freely around the village as long they were back at the tower for the last day, so Lucy decided to speak with the Hokage about the scroll that Kakashi gave her.

"So have you figured out how to link something from this world to your own?" Lord Hokage asked as he looked at Lucy who was sitting across from him, they were currently playing shogi while they discussed this,

"not exactly, every seal specifically needs both objects present in order to create a link but Kakashi said that he might be able to help me find a loophole if he sees me perform the seal," Lucy said as she moved her silver general,

"so not only do you need a private and safe room but you also need one of my most elite shinobi in a time where there are multiple shinobi from other villages residing here?" Hiruzen asked in amusement,

"Oh please, it's not like Kakashi would get there any later than what he already would," Lucy countered and the Hokage laughed as he and the seemingly young girl sitting across from him finished their game.

Later that day Lucy was sitting on a bar stool eating some dango that Kakashi had bought for her and listened to her explain the seal process, "and the Hokage really agreed to all of this?" Kakashi asked her as she finished explaining the very lengthy and physically draining process,

"well, let's just say that he has plausible deniability should anything go wrong," Lucy replied in a sickeningly sweet voice and Kakashi sweat dropped, "he knows what we're doing but he doesn't know the exact details, I just told him which seal I was performing. Whether he looked it up or not is nothing that concerns me," and with that they finished their lunch and started making their way towards the private area that the Hokage pointed out to them.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy had just finished drawing out the seals on the ground and place a kunai in the middle of the drawn circle, it was the kunai that had the Aquarius constellation carved into it. The one Naruto had given her for Christmas that one time and she had ended up freaking out, after this she pricked her finger with a kunai and let a drop of her blood splatter on the kunai hilt. Once that was done she started drawing out the second circle, "I hate how the laws of physics work here, on Earthland magic defies all laws of nature, anything is possible as long as you can figure out a way. Where as here, there are just things that can't be done," Lucy grumbled,

"how is that even possible?" Kakashi asked,

"Magic can essentially break reality while chakra only seems to be able to bend reality," Lucy paused to think for a second, "now that I think about they are completely different, chakra uses the spiritual energy and psychical energy inside of ones body, while magic combines the spiritual energy inside of ones body and the spiritual energy of nature. Someone can only performs spells when these two energies are in complete synchronisation, that's why a lot of wizards and mages have one big weakness, their physical strength," at this Lucy looked at Kakashi,

"you don't have this weakness," Kakashi pointed out and Lucy looked at the ground with a sad smile on her face,

"actually I did, in fact I was probably the weakest physically in my guild," Lucy said,

"what, that's impossible," Kakashi said in protest,

"it does seem that way doesn't it? I mean I can pretty much hold my own during fights without having to summon my spirits much anymore, you probably wouldn't recognise the person I used to be," Lucy said and chuckled quietly, "and not just because I was in my late teens when I first joined the guild either," with that Lucy stood up and pulled out a one handed, double edged sword, one that Kakashi had never seen before, it was slim and slightly jagged, it looked like a crystal substance and was splashed with purples, blues and greens, when he light shone upon it, it looked like it was riddled with stars. When Lucy looked at him he raised his visible eyebrow,

"well, I can't link both items to myself, how am I supposed to know if it worked?" Lucy pointed out to him and he sweatdropped, he held out his hand to her and she pricked his finger. Letting a drop of blood splash onto the double edged sword and she placed it into the middle of the second drawn out circle. Lucy walked to the small space in between the two and started to draw the last seal onto her palm, once she finished she slammed the hand that had the seal drawn onto it and pushed chakra into the two circles. All of the seals that Lucy had drawn started to glow blue and Lucy had to close her eyes in concentration to keep the flow of chakra steady, her magic was beginning to surface and she couldn't let any sink into the seals or it won't work.

Once all of the seals had started to glow the weapons in the middle of the circle also started to glow. Sweat dripped down Lucy's forehead, it started to coat the skin on her nose and chin her teeth were clenched and her eyes still closed, "Lucy, I think it's done, you can stop," Kakashi said as he looked at her with both of his eyes. Lucy slowly stopped pushing chakra into the seals and took a deep breath in once she had fully stopped, she placed both of her hands on her knees and tried to catch her breath, "did it work?" Kakashi asked and Lucy went to stand up at her full 11 year old height but stumbled from the lack of charka,

"Only one way to find out," Lucy replied and went over to pick up the dagger and double edged sword off of the ground, passing the double edged sword to Kakashi and then looking at the dagger with the zodiac symbol that brought along a heavy feeling of nostalgia,

"nothings happening, how are we supposed to know?" Kakashi asked and Lucy looked between the dagger and the sword curiously,

 _'_ _buy me strawberries, buy me strawberries,'_ Lucy thought to herself as she looked intently at the dagger,

"Lucy, why did you engrave 'buy me strawberries' onto the sword?" Kakashi suddenly asked and as he looked the galaxy coloured blade he was holding, "wait a minute it disappeared," he announced in confusion,

"I can't believe it," Lucy said and Kakashi looked at her,

"what?"

 _'_ _Make-out paradise is pure filth,'_ Lucy thought,

"Hey, is this some kind of joke?" Kakashi said, his toned laced with the agitation she was so used to hearing from him, "it's not filth, why would you engrave, wait it's gone again," he said and was surprised when Lucy laughed out in pure joy,

"Kashi, don't you realised what just happened?" Lucy asked him, still laughing, "I just thought those things and they appeared onto the sword," Kakashi was looking between the sword and Lucy in surprise before looking solely at the sword in his hands, "Plu is not a dog," Lucy read out loud as she looked at the words that appeared onto her dagger, "You take that back," she shouted at him and he chuckled before holding the sword out for Lucy and she looked back at him confused, "why are you giving it back? It's yours," she simply said and he looked at her in surprise. "I linked it to you, so it's useless to anyone else,"

"it's still a sword, you can still use it to fight with," Kakashi told her but she still made no move to take it,

"I was actually going to give it to you for your birthday this year," Lucy said and looked away slightly embarrassed, "it's made from Stellanium, a rare metal found on Earth Land, almost unbreakable when forged correctly, I acquired it on a job not long before I got here," Lucy explained, "I know you don't really use a sword but it's nice to look at in any case," she continued when she didn't hear him speak, still embarrassed.

Kakashi however, was surprised that she had forged him a weapon, made from rare material from her birth world. He knew how long it took her to forge something until she was happy with how it turned out, although now that he really looked at the sword he could tell that the proportions of the handle to the blade were perfect for him. Slim, for speed and the double edged blade smooth yet sharp to the touch, for quick and clean cuts, the fact that it was almost unbreakable meant that he didn't have to worry about being careful with it and he could focus on the battle at hand and while the colouring wasn't his style it reminded him of Lucy. Kakashi broke out of his train of thought and turned back towards Lucy when she started to play with the hem of her shirt, a nervous habit that he noticed she had, although she only did this when she was worried about someone else's opinion. Seeing this Kakashi began to smirk underneath his mask,

"Well I suppose it is nice to look at but the colour scheme isn't really to my liking," he teased her and she frowned,

"if you don't want it just say so," Lucy said defensively and tried to snatch the sword away from him but Kakashi held it above her range of reach,

"Now, now I didn't say that," he continued,

"it was implied, now just give it back," she demanded and she reached for it again but he put a hand on her forehead and kept her at arm's length, "hey, what are you doing? Just give it back," she started swinging her arms out in front of her in order to swipe at him but his arms were just long enough to stay out of her reach. If anyone were to look at this scene they would just dismiss it as siblings messing around, even to those who knew them would think of them as that.

"Lucy, I never said I didn't want it, stop that," Kakashi said and continued to try and keep Lucy at arm's length but the more frustrated she got the more force she put into her efforts,

"you obviously don't so stop trying to convince me otherwise," Lucy yelled out at him and continued to try and grab the sword,

"Lucy, would you stop? I was just teasing, no need to get so emotional," Kakashi said to her,

"what did you just say to me?" Lucy yelled out in anger and gather chakra into her fingers and ran at Kakashi,

"wait, hold on," Kakashi protested but was cut off from Lucy hitting him in the stomach, he got winded and tried to suck in deep breaths as Lucy stomped away.

 **Time Skip**

Everyone that had made it through the second part of the exam was standing in their teams in front of the Jonin instructors, the proctors and the Hokage. Everyone that had made it through were still talking amongst each other but Lucy was looking for one team in particular, "Look Haku, Naruto and his team made it," Lucy said to Haku and started to make her way over to them, Haku and Gemini followed behind her. Gemini had been called back out in order to show that their entire team had passed, "boys, Sakura," Lucy called out to them as she ran up and hugged both Naruto and Sasuke,

"Lucy," Naruto yelled out excited and latched onto her as well, while Sasuke tried to move away,

"Lucy," Sakura called out and latched onto her as well,

"Oh no you don't Sasuke Uchiha, the last time I saw you, you were unconscious and were running a fever, you will either let me hug you or I am going to throw you straight to your fangirls do you hear me?" Lucy scolded him and he grumbled to himself but stopped struggling.

Kakashi was standing up in the front with the other Jonin instructors looking towards his team when he saw Lucy run up to them, he was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice that Gai had started talking to him, "Did you say something?" he asked the other Jonin and sweatdropped when Gai turned around with dramatic tears in his eyes.

"this is the last chance to withdraw choose wisely," Hayate called out to the chunin and Lucy could see that Kabuto, a gray haired boy that she had seen talking to the rookies before the first exam started was about to put up his hand but suddenly stopped and put it back down. Lucy eyed him suspiciously, he had been acting weird form the start and she wanted to know why. Kabuto started conversing with his teammates and the conversation looked tense but from what Lucy could tell, whatever Kabuto said to his masked teammate got him to back down from whatever argument he was trying to make, however Gemini who was standing beside her raised their hand,

"are you sure you don't want to?" Lucy asked them as they stepped forward,

"We never wanted to become chunin, besides we've made plans for today so please don't summon us for the next few weeks," they explained to her and Lucy nodded to them as they walked off to the side and went back to the spirit realm when no one was paying attention.

Lucy turned her attention back to team 7 to see that Sasuke and Sakura were arguing, "Sakura, stop, if Sasuke won't forfeit you can't make him, all you can do is gloat when he comes out of this worse off than before," Lucy said amused,

"Lucy, this isn't a joke, he's to injured to fight, he should just pull out," Sakura said in a loud whisper, tears streaming down her face,

"the fact that he isn't just proves that he isn't ready to be a chunin, the Jonin will see that, don't worry so much," Lucy tried to soothe her and then leaned in closer to her ear, "between you and me, the higher ups aren't going to let Sasuke die, he is the last of a powerful clan, that means that the council are greedy enough to give him special treatment so long as he remains loyal to the leaf," Lucy whispered to her and Sakura relaxed slightly but Sasuke also heard what she said and glared at her, not only for the chunin comment but for saying that he got special treatment, "oh please you know it's true," Lucy said and turned her head to face the front where Hayate pointed to a board that seemed to be shuffling through names, it landed on two names,

"Will the individuals whose names are listed on the board please come forward now," Hayate called out, Sasuke and Yoroi stepped forward to face each other, "you two have been selected to compete in the first match, any objections?" when both of them denied, Hayate moved everyone else to the upper section of the arena that Lucy didn't even notice.

"Alright, please begin," Hayate said and Yoroi started making hand signs,

"Shall I start?" he asked Sasuke even though it was clear that he had already started,

"go for it," Sasuke replied either way. One of Yoroi's hands started to glow and with the other grabbed several shuriken out of his pouch, he threw the shuriken towards Sasuke and Sasuke tried to block them with a kunai of his own but the cursed mark from Orochimaru started acting up. When Lucy saw this she started to make her way over to Kakashi,

"We need to seal that up," she whispered to him as she stood next to him,

"Already on it, after this match I'll be taking him to go do just that," Kakashi whispered back to her, trying to muffle his voice by using his book,

"I'll go with you, I have an outer layer seal that will help," Kakashi turned to look at her, "It's not much, it works kind of like a shell," she answered his silent question,

"you could miss your match," Kakashi pointed out,

"that doesn't matter to me, besides if I put a silly fight over a persons life then I don't deserve to be a Chunin," with that Lucy turned her attention back to the match to see Sasuke kick away Yoroi. Sasuke was breathing heavily and didn't look like he would last for very long,

"How can you call yourself Uchiha Sasuke? You're a disgrace to yourself, aren't you embarrassed to have everyone see you as a big loser?" Naruto yelled out and Sasuke looked up surprised,

"you couldn't have picked a worse time to let your mind wander, now I'll absorb all of his chakra, this is it," Yoroi yelled as he ran towards Sasuke with his hand glowing, as Yoroi came closer to Sasuke he started to move in a way that was familiar to Lucy's eyes. Sasuke had turned to place his right hand on the ground and forced all of his weight on it and lifted his left side up to kick Yoroi in the face, very similarly to the way Lee had done before the first exam had begun. Yoroi was airborne from the force of the kick and many people including Gai and Lee were surprised, Sasuke appeared behind Yoroi but before he could do anything he started to cough up blood.

Lucy frowned and activated her eyes for a brief moment and saw that his mark was starting to spread, "we need to seal it now," Lucy demanded and gripped the railings, "I don't care about his desire the be a chunin suspend him from the exams now,"

"hold on, look," Kakashi said to her and Lucy saw that the mark was receding, Lucy still gripped the rails though as she saw Sasuke continue. Only when he had beaten Yoroi did Lucy let go but she didn't relax, she followed Kakashi as he teleported behind Sasuke and used his knee to keep Sasuke upright, Lucy laid a hand on Sasuke's shoulder as the other healers approached,

"I'll handle this one, I'm a healer as well after all," she dismissed them and tightened her hand on Sasuke's shoulder, he winced and gave her a scathing look. Lucy ignored him and herself and Kakashi teleported Sasuke to a private place underground in order to perform the seal.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy had just finished performing her part of the seal when a clap sounded from behind the three of them, "so, you've mastered sealing jutsus Kakashi? Looks like you're all grown up and it seems my little champion is well on her way to becoming a master of seals as well," Lucy started to tremble at the sound of Orochimaru's voice, both Kakashi and Lucy turned to face the rogue Sannin, "It's been awhile," Kakashi started to sweat,

"Orochimaru," Kakashi said hoarsely, Lucy was still shaking, the only reason why she was able to keep her fear at bay the last time was because of adrenaline and the need to protect team 7. Lucy was trembling so much that she didn't pay attention to the conversation that Kakashi and Orochimaru were having, she only snapped out of it when Kakashi made the Chidori appear in his right hand, "Even if you are one of those three ninja, the man I am today can take you down," both Lucy and Kakashi looked surprised when Orochimaru started laughing, "What's so funny?" Kakashi demanded,

"You say one thing and do another," Orochimaru answered, "the curse binding seal that you placed on him is futile. When a heart is sufficiently focused and ruthless in its desires, then for good or for evil, the end will justify any means. Sasuke posses just suck a heart, the heart of an avenger," Orochimaru continue,

"So that's how you got your hooks into him but Sasuke isn't," Kakashi started to defend Sasuke but Orochimaru cut him off,

"A day will come when he will seek me out, hungry for power," Orochimaru turned and started to walk away, "Meanwhile, I believe you were offering to kill me, care to try?" he asked Kakashi amused, Lucy held onto the fabric of Kakashi's Jonin vest at those words and Orochimaru looked back at them, "it seems my little champion had grown fond of you," Orochimaru laughed out loud,

"She's not your anything," Kakashi said sternly, glaring at Orochimaru,

"it seems that you are fond of her as well, that's a little surprising," Orochimaru continued still looking amused, "I wonder if you know," he said ominously and Lucy looked at Orochimaru, still scared but also confused, "About your real age that is," Lucy's eyes widened at his words and Kakashi looked down at Lucy confused, yes Kakashi knows about her real age but not that Orochimaru also knew.

"how did you?" Lucy questioned,

"because I'm the one that changed your physical form in the first place," Orochimaru announced and watched with satisfaction as the confusion and hate crossed her face,

"What?" she demanded,

"yes, I know, about your special summons that you tried so desperately to hide from me. I know that you fell out of the sky and landed close to the lightening country and I know about your physical age," Orochimaru told her, "when I saw you fall from the sky I was debating whether or not to kill you but then I felt it, the powerful energy inside of you and I knew that I had to have it," Orochimaru got a crazed look on his face, "but there was also an issue with this power, it was different from chakra but still the same, I observed you closer once you fell asleep that night and what I felt was almost as powerful as a tailed beasts chakra," Lucy continued to tremble but this time it was out of rage instead of fear, "you had yet to unlock your chakra but the combined power of this foreign energy and the chakra you naturally possess was astonishing, so I decided to suppress your chakra and to do that without you noticing I had to change your physical form,"

"so from the second I landed on that ground you knew about me? It wasn't Axal that told you, it was you that told Axal?" Lucy questioned even though she already knew the answer,

"Yes that's right, I was the one that told Axal to take you in, I was also the person to direct you to him," Orochimaru stated viciously,

"the baker girl," Lucy realised,

"that was me," the snake like man said, "I have to admit, I'm not sure if I could keep up with you if I changed you back now so I'm going to keep you like this for a while," with that Orochimaru turned and walked out of the cave.

 **Time Skip**

"Lucy, you came back just in time, your match is up," Naruto yelled out to her as herself and Kakashi came back into the preliminary arena, Lucy sighed as she started to make her way down to the ground floor of the arena and saw that Kabuto was her opponent.

"Any objections?" Hayate asked them and both of them shook their heads, "and begin,"

"I was hoping to fight against you," Kabuto said as he took a defensive position,

"I'd say the same but I'd be lying," Lucy replied, she steadied her stance but didn't move aside from that,

Kabuto frowned at her words before smirking and closing his eyes, "you'd do well not to underestimate me, I've been doing this for a lot longer than you," he opened his eyes again to see Lucy looking away from him but turned her head back towards him when she felt his stare,

"I'm sorry did you say something?" she asked him, Kabuto glared at her, the jonin up in the stands all had different reactions but a majority of them were amused, Kakashi sweatdropped and Gai started to preach about youth again,

"Kakashi, you are a bad influence on her, you should not disrupt her youthfulness," he shouted and pointed towards Kakashi.

Kabuto made the first move and rushed forward, his hands started to glow blue and Lucy started to think quickly, _'chakra scalpel? That means he must know medical ninjutsu, or at least some medical ninjutsu. Shizune taught me how to use it when I was training with her and Lady Tsunade, if that even touches me I'm done for I don't have enough chakra to heal a wound made by that.'_ With that thought Lucy activated her eyes and avoided his attack by jumping over him and raising her leg high into the air, as usual she created a large creator on the floor of the arena as Kabuto moved away,

 _'_ _Lord Orochimaru, you said she used to be your champion but you never said anything about her dojutsu or her strength,'_ Kabuto thought to himself as he prepared to attack her again, _'at this rate I'll reveal myself to everyone, I have to finish this quickly,'_ and they went back and forth, Kabuto using the chakra scalpel and Lucy using her brute strength,

 _'_ _I think I understand his movement patterns now,'_ Lucy thought to herself and grabbed her halberd that was on her back, "wind style: halberd cutters," she called out and swung her halberd in his direction. Surprised he jumped out of the way but Lucy managed to make a small cut on his arm. Not even giving him enough time to think Lucy surrounded her halberd with lightening and made her way towards him again. Bringing it down where he was standing, he tumbled away from her attack, rolling along the floor of the arena. Lucy was still angry about what had happened before and was taking it out on her opponent now, turning towards Kabuto Lucy slid her katana out of the bottom of her halberd and turned it into two separate weapons like she did in the forest.

Lucy gripped her katana before shoving it into the ground, Lucy enclosed her hands around the handle and made three hand signs, _'ox, rabbit, monkey,'_ she thought to herself before she enclosed her hands around the handle once again, the lightning around the katana magnified and started to make the same sound as Kakashi's Chidori,

 _'no way, don't tell me but she doesn't have the Sharingan, without the Sharingan it's an incomplete jutsu,'_ Kakashi thought to himself as he watched from the stands,

 _'wait, isn't that Kakashi's jutsu?'_ Gai thought to himself as he watched Lucy before he turned his gaze to Kakashi and saw that he was just as surprised as everyone else,

"unfurl," Lucy shouted and the lightning left her blade and travelled on top of the floor of the preliminary arena, not even a two seconds later Kabuto was being shocked by lightning, it extended throughout his entire body and paralysed him. Kabuto fell to the ground and Lucy leaned on top of her katana breathing heavily, the rookies all started cheering for her, Naruto and Sakura were the loudest.

"So she changed the nature of a close ranged, single hit jutsu, to a mid to long ranged multi attack jutsu, something like that would require a mass amount of chakra and precise control," Gai said and looked towards Kakashi again, "looks like she has surpassed you, Kakashi," Gai said seriously before clenching his fist with tears streaming down his face, "the power of youth runs deep within her," Kakashi was still looking towards Lucy in surprise as she slowly made her way up the stairs back to where they were standing with Lee, Sakura and Naruto.

"wow, Lucy that jutsu was awesome, it sounded like Kakashi sensei's though," Naruto said as she stopped beside them,

"Naruto you idiot, it was Kakashi sensei's jutsu but I could of sworn that Kakashi sensei's was a close ranged jutsu," Sakura said and put a hand to her chin in thought,

"almost, you see I wanted to use a jutsu that could attack multiple enemies at once but to do that I needed a jutsu that produced a large amount of chakra and a nature type. Kakashi's Chidori has both, I used his jutsu as a base line, then changed the frequency in which I produced chakra and the lightning. Let me tell you it wasn't easy getting it to move like that without some sort of tag to guide it," Lucy explained to them, well mostly to Sakura because Naruto looked like he got confused before she finished her first sentence,

"wow, Lucy you're amazing, how long did it take you to do that?" Sakura questioned,

"umm about a month or so I think," Lucy said and scratched the back of her head, "which is longer than I thought it would take considering I used a jutsu that has already been created,"

"Still it's quite a feat, I had no idea you were doing this," Kakashi spoke up and Lucy looked at him sheepishly,

"uh surprise?" she laughed nervously,

"care to explain why I didn't know of this?" Kakashi questioned her and Lucy avoided eye contact with him,

"hey look, Sakura's fight is up next," Lucy said and distracted everyone, Sakura was surprised at who she would have to be fighting and looked towards Lucy in worry. Lucy leaned up slightly to whisper in Sakura's ear, "don't worry so much and if you get into a bind just remember to release on impact," when Lucy pulled away she saw Sakura look at her confused, not knowing what she meant but Lucy only winked at her as she left for the Arena, to face against Ino.

 **Time Skip**

"Hey Lucy, I've been wondering," Kakashi called from his place on the couch, he just got back from training Sasuke earlier that day. He still wouldn't tell her what they were doing,

"Yes?" She inquired, looking over her shoulder to look at him, she was reading a scroll on space-time jutsu,

"Well, you said that your spirits come from another world right?" He asked,

"I did,"

"So then there must be other celestial wizards right? Why not just get one of your spirits to speak to another spirit in contract with another wizard and tell them where you are," Kakashi pointed out and Lucy got a tick mark on her forehead,

"If I could do that, don't you think I would have?" Lucy questioned back at him annoyed,

"Well, why can't you?"

"Because it's celestial law," Lucy said and Kakashi got a confused look on his face, "look, every celestial spirit and wizard has to abide by a set of laws created by the spirit king himself. If you were to break one of these laws he would strip you of your celestial magic and or banish you from the spirit realm. If a spirit is banished they are to remain of Earth Land for the rest of their lives, which wouldn't be very long, three years at most and that would probably only work for Loke. If a wizard gets stripped of their Magic power their keys get taken away," Lucy explained,

"Why is it a law?"

"It's a part of the privacy law they have in place, even if the wizard asks them too, they cannot divulge that information to another wizard," Lucy sighed in frustration, "it's very frustrating, if I could communicate with Yukino's spirits then I might of been able to create a link between this world and Earth Land by now,"

"There are a lot of rules to use your magic type isn't there?" Kakashi said with amusement lasing his tone of voice,

"Well, they are living beings we're talking about, Celestial magic is one of a kind and it can branch off in many different directions, not only am I summoning someone from a different world but it takes magic to keep them here, they also take magic from me to power their own powers and attacks. Something like that needs to have rules." Lucy said seriously, "in the wrong hands my magic can be dangerous, in fact people have tried to stop time and even have even succeeded in opening a gate that turned out to be a portal to 400 years in the past. Celestial magic not only involves live beings but it also involves, time magic, spatial magic and elemental magic in some cases, it takes a lot of concentration to summon a spirit, it's not like a summoning contract," by the end of her explanation Kakashi seemed to have a better understanding of her magical abilities.


	22. Chapter 22

There was less than two weeks left to train for the Chunin finals and Lucy had not trained once, she was too busy with other things. Going over the notes that Kakashi made on that linking seal as well as researching and trying out new ones, doing research on Lee's condition, which was going terribly, she couldn't figure out a way to increase his survival odds for the surgery that would need to take place, the best she could offer was a 40% chance of survival and Lucy refused to perform the surgery at those odds. There was too much to do and she just couldn't find the time to train and that's what led her to the Hokages office,

"It's rare for you to come to me for anything, what is it that you need?" Lord Hokage asked her as she sat in front of him drinking a strawberry and rose tea while he smoked his pipe,

"I would like permission to use all of my celestial spirits abilities in the final round, considering I'll be versing Haku and we both know he can handle it," Lucy said and she looked up at the Hokage through her long lashes,

"Is there any particular reason as to why you want to? Before the exams we agreed that in the solo matches you would only use Shinobi techniques," the Hokage stated curious as to what has changed, Lucy sighed and rubbed her eyes,

"I haven't been able to do any training besides the daily exercises that I force myself to do, my mind has been on other more important things," Lucy said and when she looked back at him, Sarutobi could see just how tired she really was,

"More important than your match? You don't seem to be taking it very seriously?" He baited her, already knowing why she wasn't focused on the exam,

"Lee's condition is more important than just some title and we both know that those seals I'm working on have been the only thing on my mind since I got that scroll," Lucy said sternly with her arms crossed,

"Just some title? Being a chunin gives you more responsibility around the village and allows you to go on higher ranking missions,"

"You're argument means nothing when I already have those things, I'm an ANBU Black Ops, a medical ninja, a tactician and you also request Gemini an awful lot down in the T&I unit," Lucy said haughty, as if he didn't know what responsibilities he, himself set for her.

Lord Hokage chuckled at her reasoning, "well then u don't seem to need your celestial spirits abilities to fight, is there something else you're not telling me?" The Hokage asked her,

"No, I already gave a statement after the preliminaries about what happened in the forest of death and after that. I also told you everything I was working on and got permission for it," Lucy wondered out loud confused,

"Then why are you requesting to use your natural abilities?"

"Because I haven't been able to train using ninja techniques," She insisted,

"If that's the only reason then I don't mind but if you're only doing it because Orochimaru is somewhere in the village I told you that you do not have to worry yourself with it," Lord Hokage said seriously, "ever since your interrogation with Inoichi I have convinced the council that you are not to go on any missions relating to him, that includes whilst he's in the village,"

"I know that," Lucy said softly, "But it just seems that everything that I do is all just apart of some big scheme he has, it's his fault that I don't look like myself and the only reason why I'm in the village is because he wanted me to be. I wouldn't be surprised if he was the reason why I'm even in this world in the first place,"

The Hokage had a contemplative look on his face before he let our a puff of smoke, "I don't mind, it will be interesting to see your natural abilities. I don't think I've seen it since your first time in the forest of death," he mused,

"You mean that test you made me do as soon as I woke up from being in captivity and then forcing me to be a ninja," Lucy blandly stated and Lord Hokage sweatdropped,

"Still bitter about that are you?" he rhetorically asked,

"you know I don't agree with how you do things sometimes," Lucy stated, "In my guild anyone who threatens or causes harm to anyone, suffers a punishment. My guild master, banished his own Son for hurting guild members and then later his own Grandson for forcing the guild to fight one another in order to take over the guild. It killed him to do those things but he did them to protect the guild members; it's not like Gramps doesn't believe in second chances but there were somethings that couldn't be overlooked." Lucy then looked at the Hokage straight in the eye, "you preach about how emotions can sometimes impede a mission but because of your emotional ties you let those that have hurt the village and its members go," the Hokage had the decency to look ashamed at this,

"I have made many grave mistakes Lucy,"

"I know that, everyone has at some point but you are continuing to make those mistakes. Are you expecting to leave the mess for the next Hokage to clean up?" she asked him, "what about all of the people that have been sacrificed for your mistakes, the Uchiha, Yamato, all of Orochimaru's captives not to mention Naruto's childhood. Lord Hokage I don't say this to you to make you feel guilty but to convince you to try and fix your mistakes. Danzo still has control over root and for some reason you don't put a stop to it, you know exactly what he has done and attempted to do over the years and it's still happening, no emotional tie is worth all of that," she finished berating him and he suddenly looked tired, like the wind would blow him over.

"I know, Danzo has even attempted to take my life before so he could sit in this chair," Sarutobi said and Lucy looked concerned that she might have taken it too far, "I don't know how to deal with Danzo without causing the village to panic,"

"That's why you have people who you can trust to help you," Lucy stated simply, "Even Genin's know that, you didn't become Hokage based solely on your own accomplishments but also the accomplishments you made with other members of the village," Sarutobi didn't comment so Lucy took that as a sign to continue, "without the need for other people ninja villages wouldn't exist, you can't be a village with only one person," like the answer was simple.

"I know I have burdened you with a lot but may I ask to burden you once more Lucy?" Lord Hokage suddenly asked and Lucy looked startled,

"That depends on what it is," she looked sceptical,

"well there's a person currently in the village with master sealing skills, as of now he's training Naruto for the Chunin finals. His name is Jiraiya, he was a teammate to Tsunade actually." Sarutobi started,

"What about him?"

"Well I was hoping that you would ask him to teach you sealing techniques," Lucy's eyes widened in surprise, "not only will it help you out with your problem but it will also aide you in what I'm about to ask you," he took a puff from his pipe before he continued, "Will you look for a way to break Danzo's cursed seal?" he pleaded,

"of course I will but I don't know if I'll have the time," Lucy stated,

"I know that's why, I'm relieving you of active ninja duty," he smiled at her, "other than the missions that involve Weasel of course, so will you accept?" he asked her even though he knew the answer,

"are you kidding me? Yes," Lucy exclaimed excitedly and started twirling around the Hokages office.

 **Time skip**

Lucy was walking alongside a river that was surrounded by trees looking for Naruto and this Jiraiya person, Lord Hokage said that he would either be here or at the hot springs.

"See look, it has legs," Lucy heard a familiar voice shout and walked towards it. When she got to the clearing she saw a white haired man looking unimpressed at a tadpole that was growing legs and Naruto pointing at it,

"Hey Naruto," Lucy shouted and started running towards him, "it's been so long since I've seen you," she exclaimed and jumped on him,

"Lucy," Naruto shouted in surprise when she jumped on him, "how are you? You know," he asked with his usual verbal tick,

"I'm good, hey do you know where I can find a Jiraiya? The Hokage sent me to find him," Lucy asked completely ignoring the old man behind them,

"You mean the Pervy Sage?" Naruto asked her rubbing the back of his head,

"Pervy?" Lucy looked worried,

"Hey kid, I told you not to call me that," the old man behind them shouted. Lucy turned to look at him and he looked down at her and winked while smiling a huge smile that showed his teeth, "I am the legendary toad sage, one of the legendary Sannin," he said and did a weird pose, "what is it that I can do for such a pretty little lady?" He asked,

"Hey, don't even think about doing anything weird to Lucy you Pervy Sage," Naruto yelled and stood in front of Lucy,

"Hey, I'm not one of those bastards that are into children," Jiraiya shouted at Naruto but then got a Pervy look on his face, "when she grows up however," he hummed to himself,

"Don't even think about it," Naruto said and crossed his arms,

"Um, excuse me but Lord Hokage asked me to give this to you," Lucy spoke up and handed the scroll that the Hokage gave her to explain the situation to Jiraiya, however hesitantly. As Jiraiya looked over the scroll his eyes narrowed before he looked over the top of the parchment to look at Lucy carefully,

"So I'm supposed to teach you how to do fuinjutsu?" Jiraiya questioned her and Lucy nodded her head,

"after the Chunin exams are over," she concluded when she saw that Naruto was about to start protesting, "Naruto, I almost forgot, I brought tis for you," Lucy gasped in realisation and silently asked Virgo to give her the bento box that she has asked to store away, when it appeared in her hands Naruto let out an excited shout.

"Yes, lunch, is it ramen?" he asked once he held the box in his hands,

"No, it's something nutritious this time but I promise to treat you to ramen after the exams are over," she said knowing that he would agree, "now eat and get back to work," she said sternly with her hands on her hips,

"yes Lucy," Naruto grumbled and started eating,

"So Pervy Sage, you gonna teach me?" Lucy asked the Toad Sannin,

"don't call me that," he yelled in response while Naruto snorted, "and sure I'll do it but it won't be easy," he warned her,

"your methods can't be any worse than the old hag Tsunade," Lucy waved off,

"You've been taught by Tsunade? She actually accepted you as a student?" Jiraiya asked in surprise,

"not at first, Shizune wore her down quite a bit but Tsunade saw something that made her change her mind about me. We still don't get along well but we trust each other, which is all that matters," Lucy explained, Jiraiya had a thoughtful look on his face as he looked at Lucy.

"Who did you say you were again?" Jiraiya asked her,

"Lucy, Lucy Heartfilia," Lucy responded and Jiraiya's eyes widened slightly in surprise,

"Heartfilia you say? That's an unusual name," he said and put a hand on his chin, _'Heartfilia? It can't be,'_ Jiraiya thought to himself and watched as Naruto waved goodbye to Lucy as she walked away.

 **Fairytail's POV**

Levy was sitting in the section of the Library that was reserved for the information about Lucy's whereabouts and she had gotten no further than she had over two month ago or the four years before that, "Levy, I brought Yukino," Natsu yelled out as he burst through the library doors, by himself,

"Where is she?" Levy asked him slightly agitated, being four months pregnant gave her some mood swings, thankfully for Gajeels sake they weren't so bad, at least for the moment,

"I'm here Levy," Yukino said hoarsely, out of breath as she came in after Natsu whom had got excited and left her behind,

"Yukino it's good to see you," Levy said,

"what did you want me to look at Levy?" Yukino asked after she caught her breath,

"I noticed something about the pieces of the cave that we have put back together, at first I thought it was random but I'm starting to think that it's not," Levy replied as she stood up and walked over to the parts of the cave that were drilled and bolted to the wall,

"what do you mean?" Yukino asked and followed her,

"Look at these holes, they're not very large and they seem random but I swear I've seen them before," Levy said as she started running her fingers over the seemingly random holes that she could reach,

"that's because they're not random, they're constellations, look this one is Leo, but the one's next to it are Aries and Libra, usually it's Cancer and Virgo, is it a mistake?" Yukino wondered out loud,

"I don't think it is," Levy countered, "look at all of these symbols and drawings, they look a lot like the old cave paintings that you can find." Levy explained, "telling a story,"

"So what story is it telling?" Yukino asked, completely lost on what Levy was doing,

"I'm not sure but I don't think it has anything to do with Earthland," Levy said and again Yukino was confused, "you said it yourself, the constellations are in the wrong order,"

"I still don't understand," Yukino said,

"Well, there was an incident that FairyTail was involved with a few years ago, a majority of the guild got sucked up into this portal and transformed into magical lacrima," Levy started, "but that's not important what is important is that Lucy along with the dragon slayers didn't get transformed into lacrima, they went through the portal and followed the rest of us. We all ended up in another universe where a sort of twin of ourselves resided but the important thing is, is that when we all got back Lucy told me everything about it. Including that the stars all had a different place in the sky," Levy exclaimed excitedly and Yukino came to the realisation,

"wait, so you're saying that Lucy is in another world and that's why we haven't found her?" Yukino questioned and the library door slammed opened,

"Lucy is where?" a group of people shouted.

Three days after Levy figured out what happened to Lucy, Yukino kept trying to convince her spirits to tell FairyTail which world Lucy was currently in,

"Miss Yukino, we have told you that we can't tell you anything about Miss Lucy," Polaris, the constellation of the bear cub explained,

"Please Polaris, it's been years since we've developed any leads on Miss Lucy's whereabouts and we need you to help us make the connection," Yukino pleaded once more,

"I'm deeply sorry Miss but we cannot say,"

"Why not," Levy yelled out in frustration, startling the giant pink bear, "Telling us which world she's in isn't an invasion on her privacy, it's helping her, it's helping us bring her home. So tell me why you can't say anything," Gajeel grabbed Levy gently by the shoulders as she started to stand us and she calmed down slightly.

"I'm prohibited to say anything," Polaris continued,

"but why?" Yukino asked and Polaris struggled to answer,

"Every celestial being has been prohibited from answering any questions about Miss Lucy's whereabouts, including her own," Polaris finally answered before fading back into the spirit realm.

"What did he mean by that?" Natsu and Gray shouted from where they were listening to the conversation,

"it seems that there is more going on than what's being said," Erza chimed in with her brow furrowed and her fingers on her chin,

"What are you saying Erza?" the newest addition to the S-Class mages in FairyTail asked,

"What I mean Wendy is that I think someone was deliberately targeting Lucy and I think it was the Celestial Spirit King," Erza concluded and Yukino gasped,

"His majesty; what reason would he have to send Lucy somewhere else?" Yukino asked not wanting to believe it,

"That I do not know but don't you think it's weird that the spirits aren't allowed to communicate with each other to let two celestial mages converse? Even when both of them are consenting to the communication?" Erza wondered out loud,

"The laws are very strict," Yukino said quietly,

"I know but Lucy could very much be in danger and it's also against the law to unintentionally put your contractor in any life threatening conditions," Levy added in and Erza nodded in agreement,

"what if she's in a world that has no magic, she could be suffering from magic deficiency or she could be trapped in a place where magic is illegal and is in constant danger," Wendy started to list off in worry,

"It's been years these issues could be serious now," Erza added in her own worry,

"His majesty wouldn't put Miss Lucy in danger, he considers her a friend. A rare honour and it's not something I've ever heard happening before," Yukino said trying to defend the ruler of the spirit realm,

"It happened after Lucy made the case that saved Loke's life, he was banished and she got the King to change his mind about the verdict," Gray explained, Yukino gasped,

"she got him to change his mind about a law?" she asked quietly,

"I think that's what Loke said, why is that strange?" Gray questioned,

"A human, contractor or not doesn't have any say in what happens within the celestial world, the law is the law." Yukino stated confused,

"then why would the Celestial Spirit King care about what Lucy thinks?" Levy wondered out loud,

"I guess that's a place to start," Erza said and both Yukino and Levy nodded before getting to work on research,

"My guild and I will travel to some of the churches and libraries that have a history on Celestial magic, while you stay and research here, I'll contact you if I find anything," Yukino said as she got out her miniature communication lacrima to contact Sting and Rogue.

"I'm going with you," Natsu said and he stepped up to Yukino with Happy quickly following behind him,

"Natsu, you're not going to be able to help them," Erza said from behind him,

"I know Lucy's scent better than anyone," he countered before he started to sheepishly rub the back of his head, "besides there's something that I want to find for Lucy and if they're going to go to Celestial mage places I might be able to find it," he smiled and Team Natsu all smiled because they knew what he was searching for,

"I don't mind if Mr Natsu comes, I'm sure Sting would be delighted," Yukino smiled politely,

"Okay, if you're sure he's not going to get in the way," Erza teased lightly and Natsu followed Yukino out of the guild hall while Happy followed behind.

 **END FairyTail POV**

Standing with the other contestants Lucy watched as Naruto ran around in the arena below, jumping around in excitement and blowing kisses to the crowd, "after all of that and he can still run around?" Lucy questioned herself quietly but Haku who was standing next to her heard her,

"he does seem to have endless amounts of energy," Haku replied in his usual monotone voice, Lucy held a small smile on her face as she watched Naruto run up to the stands and stood next t Shikamaru,

"I'll be right back," Lucy said to Haku and started to make her way towards Naruto, "Naruto," Lucy said excitedly and jumped onto his back, her arms made their way around his neck and she hugged him.

"Oh Lucy, did you see me?" Naruto said, his eyes full of wonder and he held her hands to make sure she didn't fall off of his back,

"didn't miss a thing," she said and got off of his back to walk in front of him so they were face to face, "I'm proud of you Naruto," she said and leaned up to lay a small kiss on his cheek. His cheeks went all red and he started lightly laugh,

"Well I have been training really hard, you know," he said, he scratched the back of his head nervously but stopped once the proctor started to make an announcement.

"Everyone, the contestant for the next match hasn't arrived yet. Therefore, we will push this match back and begin the next one." Murmurs of surprise erupted throughout the crowd and contestants. Lucy made her way back over to Haku with a frown on her face,

"They're making an exception for him, I wonder why," she quietly questioned, "anyone else would have been disqualified,"

"that may be true but Sasuke is the only Uchiha left, of course the higher ups are going to make exceptions for him," Haku replied to her and Lucy sighed in annoyance, "did you want him to fail?" Haku asked and with a closed eyed smile that didn't reach his eyes,

"no, at least not this way but how is Sasuke going to learn that being an Uchiha doesn't mean that you get things handed to you," Lucy's frown continued, "if people keep treating him like he's special, he's never going to stop acting so arrogant and entitled,"

"this isn't about people treating Sasuke like he's special is it?" Haku asked her and Lucy looked at him confused, "this is about the way Kakashi puts him above Naruto and Sakura," Lucy turned away to look down at the arena just in time for Kankuro to forfeit his fight against Shino,

"I know why Kakashi is focusing on Sasuke, I do, especially right now but he has two other students who need him; it's not just Sasuke," Lucy continued to watch the arena as the sandy haired girl from the sound village floated down there on her giant fan before the proctor even had the chance to announce the next match.

"Alright, Shikamaru go for it," Naruto shouted and pushed Shikamaru over the side of the platform so he landed on the floor of the arena beneath it and everyone started to yell at Shikamaru to get up who was laying on the floor of the arena.

"I should probably go and check on Sasuke, Shikamaru is more of a tactician so I have time before our match begins," Lucy told Haku and when he nodded she jumped out of the arena and started to make her way towards the training field that Kakashi had been taking Sasuke to since Sasuke left the hospital.

When she found out that Kakashi was only training Sasuke and left Naruto to Ebisu she was not happy. Lucy was really upset with Kakashi and they still haven't spoken from their last conversation, they haven't even seen one another in the past few weeks.

 **Flashback**

"What do you mean you're only training Sasuke, you have two students going into the finals you know and just because Sakura didn't reach the finals doesn't mean she should be slacking, did you at least organise someone for her to train with?" Lucy questioned Kakashi who was standing in front of her,

"No Sakura worked hard in the exams she deserves a break and I already organised someone for Naruto, someone better than me to teach him," Kakashi tried to remain calm,

"That's complete crap, not only is Ebisu not better than you but he also despises Naruto, he's not going to teach him to the best of his abilities and he's probably only going to confuse Naruto," Lucy countered,

"What do you expect me to do Lucy?" Kakashi asked her, tired,

"Train them both, it wouldn't kill you and it's not like you're going to be training Sasuke every single day," Lucy honestly thought that while he wouldn't train Naruto to the extent that he was training Sasuke, that he would at least check on Naruto and give him some pointers throughout the training but he didn't even consider it.

"Even while I'm not training Sasuke I don't have the time to train Naruto, he'll be fine with Ebisu," Kakashi insisted and Lucy's shoulders just dropped,

"fine," she turned and walked away to sit over on the couch,

"oh come on Lucy don't pout, I can work with all of them after the exams are over," Kakashi insisted but Lucy just ignored him as she pulled out a new scroll that she was trying to decipher and modify, "Lucy please don't be mad at me,"

"I'm not mad," she said to him, still not looking at him,

"then why won't you look at me?"

"I'm not mad," she said again and turned to him. Kakashi was surprised by the look in her eyes and the downturn of her mouth, "I'm just, disappointed," she finally sighed out and went back to her scroll.

 **Flashback End**

Spotting Sasuke and Kakashi making their way out of the training fields at a leisurely pace Lucy landed in front of Sasuke,

"What exactly have you been doing all this time Sasuke. You're late," Lucy demanded with her hands on her hips,

"Has Sasuke been disqualified?" Kakashi asked nonchalantly and without looking at him Lucy answered,

"You haven't been disqualified your fight got pushed back but Shikamaru is now fighting, after that it's me and Haku and then you. So you better pick up the pace," Lucy said, Sasuke grunted in response but otherwise said nothing. Lucy frowned at him, "What you're not even going to ask about Naruto's fight?" She asked still only looking at Sasuke but neither one of them said anything, Lucy shook her head and jumped away from them, racing to get back to the arena.

Sasuke looked towards Kakashi, "aren't you going to watch her fight?" He asked his teacher but Kakashi didn't say anything and Sasuke frowned before shaking his head, "whatever not my business, it's not like Lucy won't forgive whatever it is that you did anyway," Sasuke continued offhandedly and started walking towards the centre of town where the food stalls were to grab something to eat before his match.

Kakashi followed behind his student silently wondering whether or not he should go and watch Lucy's fight. Kakashi didn't even order any food before he placed money on the counter, "I'll be right back," and with that teleported to the arena and stood in the back where no one would recognise him and he watched Lucy and Haku walk out onto the arena floor that had two holes in the ground and the trees had scratches all over them. The weird thing is that Lucy and Haku seemed to be whispering to each other on the way to the centre of the field.

"Haku I should probably tell you I'll be using my natural abilities for this match," Lucy warned Haku,

"Will you be summoning?" He asked her in a hushed voice,

"No just there equipping their abilities," she replied and he nodded, by this time they were nearing the centre of the arena and Lucy stopped walking while Haku continued a few more steps before turning around to face her. Whispers broke out through the crowd,

"It's that foreign girl and the rogue from the mist,"

"What was the Hokage thinking letting them compete,"

"This might be an interesting fight,"

All of these phrases were ones that Haku and Lucy have both heard before so they didn't let it distract them.

"Alright and begin," the proctor announced and jumped away but both Lucy and Haku just stood there quietly,

"Come on Lucy, kick his butt," Naruto yelled from above,

"I won't be holding back this time Lucy," Haku told her and Lucy smiled lightly,

"Neither will I, I can finally let loose a little with no other genin around to watch over," she exclaimed her smile still light. Lucy summoned her cancer star dress form and held the twin swords in front of her, everyone in the stands started to whisper louder,

"She changed her clothes and pulled out a weapon from thin air,

"Is it some kind of kekkei genkei?"

"How'd she do that?"

Haku stood, waiting for Lucy to make the first move. It was then that she disappeared from his sight and his eyes widened, he quickly pulled out a kunai and jumped away just as a blur of blonde hair appeared where he had once been standing and a crater beneath it. 'I didn't even see her move, is this what's she's like when she's not hold g back?' Haku asked himself, Lucy was standing inside of the crater that she just made with her foot,

'Haku knows how I fight pretty well by now, the only way I'm going to win is by using something he's never seen before,' Lucy thought to herself and turned to look at Haku who was standing less than a metre away from the edge of the crater, "wind style: wind cutters," Lucy shouted as she started to move her twin swords around and sharp winds started to move in Haku's direction,

"Ice style: relectors," Haku called out and a single ice mirror formed in front of him, but it was different to the ones Lucy had seen before, the wind bounced off of the mirror and got sent back in her direction. Instead of dodging it she called out,

"Star dress, scorpio," a bright light appeared around her and when it disappeared her clothes had changed yet again, "sand buster, advanced," Lucy shouted again and shot out a huge sand storm to counter the sharp wind and she twisted it to move around the mirror.

'She can control the direction if the sand?' Haku panicked and covered his eyes as the sand storm raged over him, 'I can't see anything,' Haku suddenly grunted in pain and looked down at his left arm, it had been hit. Suddenly his right shoulder jerked forward, before Lucy could get another hit in Haku made the tiger hand sign and forced his chakra through the area surrounding them to disrupt the sand and it all fell to the floor. Haku saw Lucy heading towards him from his right, through a kunai in her direction and started making a series of handsigns

Lucy was traveling too fast in the air to fully dodge the kunai but she moved just enough so that it didn't hit anything life threatening. She winced as she landed and looked down at the cut on her leg, it was deep but wouldn't bleed out.

"Ice style: ice dragon," Haku called out and broke Lucy out of her train of thought she looked surprised at Haku, 'so he's mastered this just, I remember him telling me about it,' Lucy watched as a huge serpent like dragon appeared in the arena and all of the crowd was getting excited, Haku pointed towards Lucy and the dragon started moving.

"Star dress, leo," Lucy shouted and once she transformed she started to get a golden hue around her, "

'There's no way she block this, why don't she move?' Haku thought and continued to let the dragon move towards Lucy,

"Lions brilliance," Lucy called out and the golden glow around her got really intense, "regulus impact," Lucy shouted and blasted the ice dragon with her spirits abilities, the golden lion moved towards the dragon and pushed it all the way over to the other side of the arena and cause the ice to shatter. The force of the regulus put a massive hole in the arena wall, Lucy's breath started to become heavy, 'I'm using up too much energy, if this goes on for much longer I'll pass out,' Lucy thought,

"Star dress, Aries," she shouted and equipped into her fluffy pink star dress, "wool bomb," Lucy shouted and a huge pile of pink wool moved around Haku, everyone watching was confused.

Haku was also confused but as soon as his body touched the wool he started to relax involuntarily, the wool was so soothing that he started to drift off. He quickly shook his head and started to make a range of handsigns, "ice style: absolute zero," he shouted and the wool around him started to freeze over before it shattered and set him free. Looking around he couldn't spot Lucy until a shadow appeared above him, quickly looking up he was shocked to see Lucy in her Aquarius form with what looked like mud swirling around her hand,

"Aqua metria," Lucy shouted and brought her hand down in the direction of Haku and an entire wave of what appeared to be mud rushed towards him. It kept flowing until it pushed him roughly into the wall and knocked him out. Lucy stopped her spell and leaned forward, breathing extremely heavily,

"Winner of the match, Lucy Heartfilia," the proctor shouted and everyone began screaming their excitement. A couple of medics came out to take Haku in for an inspection and tried to check on her too but she stopped them and started healing herself as she made her way back up to the stands.

"Lucy that was so cool, how did you do that?" Naruto asked her as soon as she was close enough,

"Don't worry about it Naruto, it's not something I can teach you," she said as she smiled slightly at him but leaned against the railings, tired.

"let her rest and just enjoy the next match," Shikamaru stopped Naruto before he could pester Lucy anymore. Naruto suddenly smiled and started looking around for Sasuke.

A whirlwind of leaves and dust appeared down in the arena and when it cleared up Sasuke and Kakashi were standing in back to back, "sorry we're late," Kakashi said in his usual light tone with his one visible eye closed.

"your name?" the proctor asked them and Sasuke answered,

"Sasuke Uchiha,"

"how could you be so late, I was beginning to think you weren't going to show up cause you were afraid to fight me," Naruto said to Sasuke. Naruto and Shikamaru had made their way down to where they were standing and left Lucy up in the stands,

"don't get too worked up, you moron," Sasuke scoffed to Naruto, "I take it from your excitement, you won in the first round?" Sasuke wondered,

"of course," Naruto responded,

"well, we showed up all flashy and the like, but could Sasuke have been disqualified?" Kakashi wondered out loud nervously despite what Lucy had told them earlier,

"Don't worry, we pushed his fight until the end, he hasn't been disqualified," the proctor reassured and called Gaara down,

"Naruto lets go back up," Shikamaru said and both Naruto and Shikamaru started to walk back up to the stands slowly. Lucy was watching as they both turned to look down the tunnel way that leads out to the arena and they both froze, she frowned as Naruto went pale and Shikamaru started to sweat profusely, Lucy saw Gaara walk past them towards the arena and turned her attention towards the two Genin who were about to fight.

"Begin," the proctor called and jumped back, Gaara's sand started to move out of his gourd and Sasuke leapt back away to observe it. Lucy could see that Gaara was talking but it seemed to be a one sided conversation, finally he looked up at Sasuke,

"come," Gaara rasped out,

"Here I go," Sasuke said and pulled out multiple shuriken from his pouch and threw them at Gaara,

'why on earth did he tell Gaara that he was starting?' Lucy asked herself, 'hasn't Kakashi taught you anything?' She continued with her thoughts bitterly. Gaara's sand moved in front of him, blocked the shuriken and formed itself into a clone.

Sasuke started running towards them both and jumped into the air as the clone sent a blast of sand towards him. Pulling out more shuriken Sasuke threw them towards Gaara and they were again blocked. Sasuke moved to kick the sand clone and ended up taking the hands that were up in a crossed formation to block right off of the clone, twisting around and placing his hands on the floor Sasuke pushed off and twisted around once again in order to swing his arm into the sand clones neck. Sasuke's arm got stuck, sand wrapped around it and tried to suck him in but Sasuke used his other arm to take out the clones head. As the clone started to dissipate, Sasuke rushed forward to strike Gaara but a sand wall came up to block him.

Sasuke smirked and disappeared, only to reappear behind him. Exactly like Lee's and Gai's style of fighting. It was very familiar to Lucy, considering that she trained under Gai for a while. 'Sasuke must of copied Lee's movements from when they first met, because there's no way that Sasuke could increase his speed, strength and movements in just one month. Kakashi must have taught him how to use the sharingan more effectively.' Lucy thought as she moved her eyes over to where Lee was standing, to see both Lee and Gai looking at Sasuke in shock, Lee looked quite distraught and why wouldn't he? The taijutsu style that he's spent his entire Genin days learning, only for someone else to see it once and perfect it within a month. As the fight continued on Lucy pushed herself off of the railing to go and check on Lee, as she got there Gaara had in cased himself in sand

"Lee, how are you feeling?" Lucy asked as she walked up to the group,

"Miss Lucy," Lee whispered and everyone else turned to look at her,

"Lucy, are you sure you should be moving around?" Sakura asked,

"don't worry I feel fine, just a bit drained," Lucy insisted,

"you're fight was something else," Choji said as he stuffed his face with chips,

"yeah, how did you do that?" Ino asked sceptical,

"let's call it a secret technique," Lucy waved them off, "to be honest, my winning was only luck,"

"luck? how could it be luck?" Sakura inquired but didn't get an answer as Naruto burst through in a hurry

"Kakashi sensei," he called out as he ran through out of breath,

"what's up?" he responded lazily,

"stop this fight right now," Naruto shouted, shocking everyone, "he's completely different from us, he's not normal,"

"Naruto, what are you talking about?" Ino asked,

"he lives to kill others, at this rate," Naruto trailed off and when he saw that Kakashi wasn't doing anything he shouted again, "Kakashi sensei,"

"don't worry, Sasuke and I weren't late for no reason," Kakashi smiled and Lucy turned her attention back to Sasuke's fight,

"I have a feeling, I'm not going to like what you taught him," Lucy said to Kakashi and he turned to her slightly surprised that she spoke to him at all,

"you won't," Kakashi replied and then they were both watching the fight, "you'll be surprised though,"

Sasuke leapt back and hopped up the wall of the arena and started making handsigns that Lucy recognised, "no, please tell me that you didn't teach him that," Lucy practically pleaded with Kakashi but he didn't say anything to her,

"no way, is that?" Gai trailed off,

"the reason why I trained Sasuke is because he is the same type as me," Kakashi responded and Sasuke's hand lit up a bright blue, electricity flowing off of his hand making a loud chirping noise. Lucy tightened her hand around the railing,

"so that's why you only trained him in taijutsu, to raise his speed," Gai concluded and Kakashi confirmed. Sasuke sped towards the sand covered Gaara,

"I see it's that technique," a smooth voice said from beside Lucy,

"Haku, you're up, how was your beauty sleep?" Lucy teasingly asked him,

"quite well," he didn't take the bait,

"what is this technique and this sound?" Sakura asked, Lucy didn't pay attention as Gai started to explain because she already knew. Her knuckles turned white as she watched Sasuke make his way towards the sand shield at a magnificent pace, Sasuke pierced through the ultimate defense of the sand.

"When this is over, you and I are going to talk," Lucy said quietly so that only Kakashi could hear her, Gai was still explaining things to Ino, Sakura and Choji. Gaara screamed from inside his shield and Sasuke tried to pull his hand out of the sand but it had closed around him. When he had finally managed to pull his arm free, Gaara made the sand surrounding him disappear he was holding his shoulder and it was bleeding. It was then that Lucy felt a haze come over her and she knew that a genjutsu was being cast, "Star dress, cancer," she called out and quickly got into her cancer form and brought out her twin swords.

Both Gai and Kakashi released themselves from the genjutsu and a smoke bomb went off in the Hokages seating area and anyone still awake looked towards it in surprise. The Kazekage appeared in the air holding the Hokage and landing on the roof above them, the ANBU stationed around also took off towards the roof, some leaving behind their hoods that concealed their identities and some kept them on.

"nine of them," Lucy counted,

"nine traitors," Gai confirmed after her. The sand siblings jumped down into the arena along with their sensei and after a few minutes grabbed Gaara and jumped out over the wall Sasuke following shortly after them. More enemy shinobi started to surround the leaf ninja,

"A large number," Kakashi muttered,

"It's more than that, look at the roof of the central watch tower," Gai said, Kakashi, Lucy and Sakura all looked over while Gai checked on his student,

"that's a barrier ninjutsu," Kakashi vocalised,

"Kakashi look within the barrier," Gai insisted,

"Orochimaru," Kakashi exclaimed loudly, Lucy tensed and tightened her hold on the twin swords while Sakura froze before turning to look around for Sasuke only to find enemy ninja coming towards her. Sakura screamed and covered her head while Lucy jumped in front of her but Kakashi jumped in front of them both, taking out both ninja with a kunai to their heads. Lucy breathed out a sigh of relief as Sakura looked up at her teacher, "Sakura, stay there for a bit, I'll even out the odds," Kakashi told her before looking at Lucy to which Lucy responded by thrusting one of her swords towards Kakashi, the sword went by his head, taking out a ninja that was coming up from behind him.

"Not a chance," Lucy said to Kakashi's unvoiced plea, Kakashi sighed in disappointment that Lucy wouldn't be hiding out with Sakura but didn't waste any more time on it, they both jumped out and started attacking sound and sand shinobi along with Gai.

"I'm worried about Lord Hokage," Gai said as all three of them went back to back, well as well as they could with Lucy only coming up to the centre of their stomachs,

"let the ANBU handle what's going on up there, besides Lord Hokage isn't someone who's going to be taken down easily. After all, that person is the Hidden Leaf's Hokage," Kakashi reassured him. After taking out some more shinobi Kakashi addressed Sakura, "Sakura, it was worth teaching you genjutsu during the survival trainining, you truly have a talent for it," he started, "nullify the genjutsu and wake Naruto and Shikamaru," he continued without giving her time to comprehend what he was explaining to her, "this is the first mission you've had in a while, Naruto will be happy."

"What kind of missions?" Sakura asked,

"Listen carefully, for the first time since the wave country, an A class mission," Kakashi explained and Sakura was looking at his back in shock, Lucy was tense, she didn't want Genin to go after Gaara and Sasuke but she knew that they were short on shinobi. As Kakashi continued to explain to Sakura what she had to do Lucy took out more enemy ninja before they could get too close to Kakashi and Sakura.

Sakura started to crawl over towards Naruto and Shikamaru in order to wake them up with a freshly summoned Pakkun following behind her. Once both of them were up an enemy shinobi came towards them but was punched into a wall by Gai, who then forced them through it. Lucy continued to fight off more shinobi as Kakashi explained briefly about what their mission was and they were off.

"well now that they're gone, I can finish this quickly," Lucy said and started to make her way to the centre of the arena,

"Lucy wait, what are you going to do?" Kakashi called after her,

"I'm taking them all out in one go," she said and called upon Gemini, "Gemini, there are too many of them please transform into me," she asked and Gemini hesitated before transforming into Lucy,

"No Lucy stop," Kakashi shouted towards her and jumped down into the arena to stop her,

"Oh, the stars far and wide that embody the heavens, by thy radiance reveal thy form to me, I implore Tetrabiblos, eternal ruler of the stars above," Lucy and Gemini chanted together, Gai stopped Kakashi from moving any closer to Lucy,

"Stop, she's already started it might hurt her even more to stop now," Gai insisted as he held Kakashi,

"now that the aspect is complete I ask that you land your power to me, let your unrestrained rage flow,"

"Let's just make sure that no one can get to her while she's like this," Gai finally convinced Kakashi and they both stood around Lucy as enemy shinobi started to make their way towards them,

"open your raging tumultuous gate, with all 88 heavenly bodies, shining," Lucy and Gemini both snapped their eyes open at the same time and the ninja from the sound and the sand froze in their places. The area around them had turned into starry skies,

"Urano Metria," Lucy and Gemini shouted together and 88 stars fell from the sky, taking out all of the surrounding shinobi, some of them took off in different directions outside of the arena walls. Gemini had been forced back into the spirit realm from Lucy being exhausted and Lucy fell towards the ground as the starry skies disappeared and Kakashi sped over to catch her.

"Lucy," Kakashi called out to her but she was unconscious, "Lucy," he tried again and shook her but she didn't wake up, "damn it," Gai placed a hand on his shoulder. Gai and Kakashi turned towards watch tower and saw the barrier fall,

"shoulder we follow them?" Gai asked

"no wait Gai," Kakashi said and lifted up Lucy as he stood up,

"that's right, if you move out now with little information of the surrounding areas, you'll be caught in a trap," said a masked shinobi

"I'm already 100% aware of that, whether there is a trap or not; I cannot let the enemy just get away, that is the way of the Leaf," Gai said glaring at the shinobi standing across from him that somehow escaped from Lucy's spell,

"and you, are you just going to observe the end result, Kabuto?" Kakashi asked tightening his hold on Lucy, never letting his sharingan move away from Kabuto,

"I guess you found out," Kabuto said and removed the mask,

"What are we going to do?" Baki asked Kabuto,

"we should get going soon," was Kabuto's reply,

"are you going to run away from me again?" Kakashi asked trying to bait him,

"for now, if I use my skill carelessly the worst that could happen is that it would get copied because besides from the Uchiha clan there is no one who can use that eye perfectly," at Kabuto's remark Kakashi glowered at him, "well then," Kabuto said, made a handsign and both himself and Baki disappeared.

Gai and Kakashi jumped up onto the roof of the watch tower with the rest of the elite and surrounded the fallen Lord Hokage, Kakashi still holding an unconscious Lucy to his chest and he closed his eyes in anguish.


	23. Chapter 23

Two days after the battle it was raining in the leaf village, people were surrounding a monument in commemoration of the Third Hokage, "Iruka sensei," Naruto sullenly spoke, through the rain. Iruka looked at Naruto from his place next to Konohamaru whom he was attempting to comfort, "what are humans? Is life just that simple?"

"when a person dies, doesn't matter if it's the past, present or future, they will lose everything. He died fighting in a mission death caught him unaware because life was that simple, it's like a dream, it's all the same even if you haven't reached your goal but everyone knows that the most important thing is to die for a cause," Iruka spoke, "family, friends, lovers and all of the other villagers. To me are the most important people, we trust each other and help each other. From the day we're born to the day we die, we start to feel that love is the most important and that kind of relationship takes time to develop and trust anyone with this headband on knows because it's very important." Iruka explained,

"yeah, I know that as well," Naruto responded, "but death is still painful,"

"the Hokage wouldn't think it's painful because we both agree that people should not be hurt for no reason," Kakashi said, "but it's no use even if you do understand,"

"right," Naruto said and smiled, "but not knowing is better than knowing."

 **Time skip**

Kakashi was waiting outside of a stall when Asuma and Kurenai walked by, "hey you two, you guys look good together, are you on a date?" he asked them slyly,

"Idiot, you listen to Lucy too much. Anko asked me to pick up some sweets for her," Kurenai answered with a blush coating her cheeks,

"What about you? What are you doing here? Are you picking up some sweets too?" Asuma asked Kakashi to take the focus off of himself and Kurenai,

"Not really, sometimes I stop by to pick up something for Lucy but right now I'm waiting for Sasuke," Kakashi replied,

"Kakashi, it's different of you to arrive first," Sasuke said as he arrived outside of the stall,

"well for some occasions," Kakashi replied and they looked inside of the stall to see it completely empty,

"I was planning on buying some sweets, but there's no point now," Sasuke said out loud,

"yeah," Kakashi said and narrowed his eyes towards the direction of Kurenai and Asuma, they both nodded their heads and jumped onto a nearby building and disappeared, "sorry Sasuke, somethings come up," Kakashi continued and followed Kurenai and Asuma.

Kakashi came upon the two Jonin taking on two opponents and waited for the right time to jump in, one of the opponents was Itachi Uchiha, the only other Uchiha besides Sasuke alive and ironically the one that made it so; the other was Kisame Hoshigaki previously a part of the seven swordsman of the mist, currently a rogue. Kisame started making handsigns and Kakashi was quick to copy them, the water shark splurge jutsu came from the both of them and Kakashi appeared behind Itachi and a clone of him in front of Asuma.

"Kakashi Hatake," Itachi said and looked behind him towards Kakashi,

"Now it's time to dance, now I have a reason to show my jutsu, with the exception of Itachi this one has the Sharingan as well, he is very well known. Kakashi the Copy Ninja," Kisame said,

"this is surprising these were the two suspicious people down at the tea shop," Kakashi said,

"there's some slicing to do in this direction," Kisame said excitedly,

"if you fight with only one person, this matter could quickly be resolved." Itachi went to explain, "you're about to fight many shinobi's and that would take to long, more will come," Itachi cut off Kisame as he attempted to protest, "remember why we are here in the first place, getting injured is not the reason why we came here,"

"mind telling why you've come here," Kakashi's clone said and then popped out of existence,

"we've come looking for something," Itachi answered,

"Looking for something?" Kakashi questioned, "what's this all about?"

"if it were me and not Kisame that you were facing then this would take no time at all," Itachi said quickly created a jutsu and took out several kunai. Kakashi made several quick handsigns and created a water barrier to block the jutsu and as soon as he let it down, Kakashi stood there assessing Itachi, "your penetrating eye is remarkable as expected Kakashi," Itachi said and appeared behind Kakashi, stabbing him in the back, making his clone disappear. Kakashi, who was under water handed Kurenai a kunai and then quickly pushed her out of the way, the Itachi who was standing behind Kurenai imploded and sent waves crashing upwards.

"Kakashi, Kurenai," Asuma yelled and jumped into the river but stopped once he took a closer look. Kakashi and Kurenai looked around them and saw that a layer of water surrounded them, they both turned to look toward the direction that the Itachi clone exploded to find Lucy standing in her Aquarius stardress in front of them.

"Lucy," Itachi said as he looked at her, standing in front of the three Jonin, "Heartfilia,"

"Itachi Uchiha," Lucy said firmly, narrowing her eyes but only Itachi could see the slight upturn of her mouth before it settled back into a firm line,

"Lucy what are you doing here and how do you know him?" Kakashi demanded to know from behind her,

"That's what I would like to know," Kisame said lifting his sword over to rest on his shoulders, "Itachi, how is it that you know such a little kid?" Itachi sighed and closed his eyes,

"remember when I was sent to babysit Hidan that one time and we both got back drenched?" Itachi asked rhetorically,

"wait you mean that blonde chick that Hidan was complaining about for weeks was this little girl?" Kisame asked, pointing his sword, Samehada in Lucy's direction,

"That's right," Itachi confirmed,

"Lucy, how could you not tell me?" Kakashi demanded,

"There are still a lot of things you don't know about Kakashi," Lucy replied not looking back at the Jonin, missing the look Kakashi gave her. Kisame was about to take a step forwards before Itachi stopped him,

"we should leave," Itachi said,

"what?" Kisame demanded,

"we can't beat all the jonin and Lucy,"

"does that blonde really tip the tables that much?"

"I'm afraid so, despite her appearance she's an S-ranked shinobi,"

"surely with the both of us we could take her?"

"that time with Hidan is not the only time I've fought with Lucy," Itachi responded and everyone's eyes widened, "there has never been a clear victor," was all he said and the three leaf jonin stare at Lucy with mixed emotions.

"why are you causing trouble Itachi?" Lucy spoke up,

"we are looking for something," Itachi repeated his words from before, Lucy raised an eyebrow,

"something?" she questioned and Itachi nodded his head once. Lucy immediately understood what he meant, she closed her eyes, "I see, well I can't just let you waltz in and take it, can I?" she rhetorically asked,

"you've been around Kakashi for too long, let me show you what a true Sharingan bloodline user is like," Itachi said and opened his eyes to glare at them but they were different from before,

"everyone close your eyes," Kakashi shouted, both Kurenai and Asuma immediately closed their eyes and Kakashi closed his non-Sharingan eye, "Lucy I said close your eyes, his are different from mine," Kakashi demanded once again,

"he is right, my eyes are different, only one from my bloodline could hope to defeat my illusion, the Tsukiyomi" Itachi said and looked straight at Lucy,

"I'm naturally immune to genjutsu, no one has ever been able to," Lucy got cut off as she stared into Itachi's eyes,

"Lucy," Kakashi called but she didn't answer.

Lucy looked around and saw that she was in a black and white world, "what is this?"

"this is my Tsukiyomi," a voice called out from behind her, "no one else but us are here,"

"so no one can see or hear this?" Lucy asked and Itachi shook his head, no, "so this is what it's like to be placed under a genjutsu? No wonder it's a feared skill," she said, "you're going after Naruto?" she suddenly asked seriously,

"yes, we are,"

"can you tell me why?"

"the Akatsuki want to extract the Kyuubi from him," was Itachi's answer,

"why on earth would they want to do that?" Lucy asked,

"I can't tell you that yet," Itachi responded back and Lucy started pouting, Itachi sighed before gesturing her closer to him, Lucy walked closer to him and he poked her forehead with his two fingers when she got close enough,

"why, do you keep doing that?" Lucy wined as she held her hand to her forehead,

"you'll understand someday," Itachi smiled at her before frowning, "I'm sorry Lucy but to make this believable," Itachi started but Lucy cut him off with a smile,

"I understand, what do I have to do?"

"when I pin you to one of these crosses you need to try and dispel the genjutsu, to do that you need to disrupt your chakra," Itachi explained,

"what are you going to do while I'm on the cross?" Lucy asked a little worried, Itachi hesitated,

"I will stab you with this sword," Itachi said and pulled a sword out from nowhere, Lucy gulped,

"should I be worried about you acting like this is normal?" Lucy asked him quietly,

"only if you can't break the genjutsu," Itachi said and not even a second later Lucy was pinned to a cross,

"wait, how do I disrupt my chakra?" Lucy asked panicked,

"just force charka throughout you entire system, like releasing a seal but on your entire body," Itachi said and thrust the sword into Lucy's stomach, Lucy cried out in pain, "dispel the genjustu Lucy," Itachi insisted. Stabbing her in the stomach a second time Lucy cried out again and her physical body fell to its knees, Kakashi kneeled down beside her and called out to her but she couldn't hear him.

In the genjutsu Itachi was watching Lucy with concern because she wasn't dispelling the genjustu, "there's something I wanted to tell you before I left," Lucy croaked out, Itachi stopped and looked at Lucy, "I meed you to let me check your eyes again, you've been using them too much," she said and Itachi sighed,

"you never learn do you?" Itachi said but he didn't sound displeased and just before he could stab her a third time she dispelled the genjutsu. Itachi fell to his knees and started breathing heavily and Lucy was wiping her chin in the same position.

"Itachi what happened?" Kisame asked,

"she dispelled my Tsukiyomi," Itachi rasped out,

"how is that possible?" Kisame asked, "that technique is to destroy ones spirit, I'm surprised she even survived it,"

"Lucy, are you okay?" Kakashi asked, "what happened in there?"

"I'm okay," Lucy replied and slowly started to stand up,

"You're after Sasuke aren't you?" Kakashi asked as Lucy leant against him,

"No, we are after the Fourth Hokages Legacy," Itachi responded,

"Naruto," Lucy wheezed,

"your target it the Kyubi, inside of Naruto isn't it?" Kakashi said, "you have begun to move, you think we don't know? The name of your organisation, it's Akatsuki isn't it?" Kakashi continued,

"Kisame, take out Kakashi, it's time for these people to disappear," Itachi said and Kisame moved forward but was kicked in the head,

"who the hell is this?" Kisame asked as he skidded to a stop besides Itachi,

"the leaf's prideful green beast, Gai Mait," Gai exclaimed as he landed in his taijutsu stance in front of the jonin and Lucy,

"don't take him lightly," Itachi said after Kisame made a joke, it was then that Kakashi fell into the water,

"Kakashi, you looked at him didn't you?" Lucy asked as she reached for Kakashi, "let him go Itachi," Lucy demanded and looked towards Itachi. As Gai was explaining to Kurenai and Asuma how to fight against Itachi, Lucy was trying to keep Kakashi's head above water.

"Lucy, take Kakashi to the hospital, Kurenai and Asuma will back me up until reinforcement's arrive," Gai demanded,

"I've already fought Itachi, I should stay," Lucy said,

"you also just woke up from the hospital yourself, go," Gai said once more,

"Kisame, we did not come here to start a war, this is nothing more than nonsense now. Let's leave," Itachi said as Lucy stood up with Kakashi,

"with this much trouble, it's unavoidable," Kisame said and both himself and Itachi jumped away.

All three Jonin and Lucy were gathered in Kakashi's room surrounding the unconscious Kakashi, "that guy still hasn't found Naruto," Gai said,

"In this village, finding Naruto is pretty simple, Itachi knows Naruto's face," Asuma said. Lucy just placed a damp cloth onto Kakashi's forehead and kept silent,

"Kakashi," everyone turned toward Sasuke who opened the door, "why is Kakashi in bed and when did Lucy get out of the hospital?" Sasuke questioned,

"Sasuke, it's good to see you," Lucy said ignoring his fist question,

"why is everyone gathered here?" Sasuke continued,

"is it true that Itachi has really returned to the village and that he's after Naruto?" a jonin ran into the room yelling. Lucy smacked her forehead as Sasuke ran out of the room,

"should I follow him?" Lucy questioned,

"No I'll go, you stay here and rest with Kakashi," Gai said as he left the room. Once the door closed once more and it was just Kurenai, Asuma, Lucy and the unconscious Kakashi,

"So how is it that you've fought Itachi?" Asuma asked,

"I was wondering about that," Kurenai said,

"I guess I can tell you a little," Lucy said as she changed the cloth on Kakashi's forehead, "Lord Third made me an ANBU Black Ops, on my way back from a couple of missions we bumped into each other and fought a few times, like he said there has never been a clear victor," Lucy explained and both of them looked at the ground,

"that's right you don't know do you?" Asuma said out loud,

"don't know what?" Lucy asked them,

"it's about the Third Hokage," Asuma started, "he, he died during the battle against the sand and sound," Lucy's eyes widened before she slowly closed them,

"I see," she whispered and changed the cloth on Kakashi's forehead once more, "I'm going to go and follow Gai, keep an eye on Kakashi until I get back," and before either Asuma or Kurenai could protest Lucy was out of the door.

Lucy summoned Slash to try and locate Naruto and Sasuke which resulted in her getting there before Gai did. Lucy saw Sasuke being kicked into the wall by Itachi, "Sasuke," Lucy ran next to him and knelt down, "Slash stay near Naruto," she ordered. Lucy looked over Sasuke to see that the curse seal that Orochimaru placed on him was starting to unravel and she looked at Itachi discretely,

"This fight is mine," Sasuke growled out towards Naruto and Jiraiya,

"Sasuke enough," Lucy said harshly,

"No this fight is mine," Sasuke yelled at her,

"Not today it's not," Lucy bit back, leaving no room for argument, she stood up and placed herself in front of Sasuke,

"Lucy, what are you doing? Don't take this away from me," Sasuke growled at her, "you know how much this means to me,"

"that doesn't concern me," Lucy said and Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her in anger, "my job is to keep you and the others safe, not let you kill yourself for the past," Lucy took a deep breath in, "if I'm being honest, if I could stop you from doing this I would," Sasuke's eyes widened before narrowing again, "trust me Sasuke, revenge won't help anyone, in fact it will probably make you even more alone than you are right now," Lucy said but Sasuke didn't care to listen,

"What would you know about it? You don't know what it's like to lose everyone," Sasuke growled out,

"don't I?" Lucy countered, "why do you think I'm in the village in the first place?" Lucy demanded, "It's not for a vacation that's for sure," Sasuke still wouldn't listen to her and pushed her out of the way before Itachi appeared in front of Sasuke and punch him making Sasuke cry out. Itachi hit Sasuke multiple times until Sasuke was spitting out blood,

"no mercy at all," Kisame smirked,

"enough," Lucy shouted and equipped her Taurus stardress, jumping high into the air Lucy brought her leg up and swung it down towards Itachi who jumped out of the way,

"what have I been doing all of this time?" Sasuke quietly asked himself as he watched Lucy go head to head with Itachi and hold her own, _'she got her power from him didn't she?_ ' Sasuke thought to himself. At this point Kisame stepped in and started fighting Lucy himself, Itachi turned his attention back on Sasuke and lifted him up by his throat. Sasuke screamed and Lucy turned to the sound,

"pay attention," Kisame said and swung down his sword at Lucy, it grazed her side and started to consume some of her chakra. Lucy cried out and jumped breathing heavily, "Itachi, I advise against using your eyes so many times in a single day," Kisame told Itachi. Naruto cried out and started running towards Itachi and that's when Jiraiya decided to step in,

"toad mouth bind," Jiraiya called out and a pink, fleshy material started to coat the hallway, "too bad Itachi, Kisame you are already in my stomach," Lucy looked down at the flesh that she was currently kneeling against and cringed,

"what the hell is this stuff?" Lucy cried out,

"stay still, don't worry it's just a jutsu," Jiraiya reassured both Lucy and Naruto,

"Kisame come," Itachi commanded and they both started making their way towards the window that Lucy came in when she arrived,

"No one sneaks away from this without my knowledge," Jiraiya called out but Itachi and Kisame kept running away and tore a whole through the flesh on the other side of the hallway. Lucy looked towards where they fled and saw that black flames had burnt right through the flesh, "idiot, don't move closer to it," Jiraiya ordered Naruto and brought out a sealing scroll,

"Lucy are you okay?" Slash asked his summoner as he moved away from Naruto and closer to the female blonde,

"yes, shark bait just nicked me with his oversized tooth pick that's all," Lucy laughed out and turned towards Jiraiya who had just finished sealing the black flames inside of a scroll, "will I be able to do that?" Lucy asked,

"maybe," Jiraiya laughed out but they both looked back at Naruto who was running towards Sasuke who was just sitting there blankly on the ground. A kunai knife was suddenly thrown in between Jiraiya and Naruto,

"Dynamic entry," someone yelled and Lucy saw a green blur before Jiraiya was kicked in the face, Lucy rubbed the skin in between her eyebrows at the idiocy of the taijutsu specialist that just came into the area. Lucy forced herself up as Gai, Jiraiya and Naruto conversed with one another and made her way over to Sasuke and knelt down beside him, "When students are injured, well, this time I think it's harmed his mind, medical care specialists should be around in case this should continue to happen," Gai said, "is there anything you can do Lucy?"

"his mind has been harmed by genjutsu, I can't naturally see genjutsu, when Itachi caught me in one before it was a one off and it wasn't very hard to dispel. I can't heal either Sasuke or Kakashi without risk of causing more damage," Lucy said and looked down,

"don't worry, the person we're searching for will be able to help," Jiraiya said as he placed a hand on her head, Lucy looked up at him,

"wait, that person?" Lucy questioned him,

"that's right, that person is one of the three legendary Sannin like me," Jiraiya smiled.

 **FairyTail POV**

Natsu was niffing the air around the temple that Yukino had lead him to, "it definitely smells similar to Lucy but not quite the same," he gruffed out,

"Well this is a Celestial Mage temple," Yukino said, "Miss Lucy probably visited these places before she joined Fairytail,"

"That makes sense," Happy said, "do you think Levy will be able to find out where Lucy is?"

"If anyone can it's her but remember Levy's condition so it might take a while," Rogue replied softly,

"Yeah don't expect much to happen until we can get more information on Lucy's connection to the spirit king," Sting said,

"Stash face wouldn't hurt Lucy I don't know what Erza was talking about," Natsu dismissed with his arms resting behind his head,

"you have to admit that Erza does have a point though," Happy said,

"Fro thinks so too," said one of the Sabre Tooth exceeds,

"What do you mean Happy?" Rogue cut in,

"well it seems that Lucy was targeted specifically, I mean why not just choose any Celestial mage?" Happy wondered out loud, "why not Yukino who has the secret 13th key? Or Princess Hisui who is royalty? Why Lucy?"

"Miss Lucy is an extremely powerful Celestial Mage," Yukino said, "she's one of the first to be able to use stardress,"

"Can't you use it Yukino?" Happy asked and Yukino shook her head,

"No, I haven't been able to use it, I don't know how Lucy got permission to access her spirits powers," Yukino said,

"Permission?" Nastu asked and Yukino nodded her head,

"you need permission to use a spirits power and sometimes even permission from the Spirit King to access them in different stages," Yukino explained, "it would be like someone being able to copy your magic for a short time, as far as we know Miss Lucy can equip some of her spirits powers but we haven't seen to the extent of these powers, they're secret," Yukino explained, "since Lucy has the Spirit Kings trust she is able to use stardress but it is said that only the original family can know or have the ability to learn how to further their bond with their spirits to the extent where they become one,"

"I have no idea what that means but it sounds cool," Natsu said and Sting agreed with him both Yukino and Rogue sweatdropped at the two of them,

"Fro thinks so too," the little frog dressed exceed agreed,

"If Sting thinks so it must be cool," Lecter also chimed in,

"I'm going to go ask if there is any information on the Heartfilia family line," Yukino said and started making her way to the temples carers with Rogue following close behind her holding Frosch,

"Great, we'll sniff out the place," Sting replied for himself and Natsu who already had his nose close to the ground and started sniffing, "say Natsu, why are you so obsessed with finding Lucy anyway?" Sting asked after Yukino and Rogue were out of view,

"What do you mean why? Lucy is my friend," Natsu replied,

"Yeah I know but it's been years, she might be fine where she is, why continue at the rate you are?" Sting questioned and Natsu paused in his sniffing, lost in thought. "Natsu?"

"I won't let that happen again," Natsu suddenly whispered,

"won't let what happen?" Sting questioned, Natsu stood up and faced Sting,

"remember that time during the Grand Magic Games?" Natsu asked him,

"with those dragons? Yeah,"

"well, the only reason we were able to stop it was because Lucy had come back from the future to warn us," Nastu explained, "someone was targeting Lucy, trying to kill her before she goes back in time but the future Lucy got between them and died herself," Natsu said and clenched his fist, "I won't let that happen again, if I could just hear her speak it would be enough,"

"I see, now everything makes sense," Sting said,

"what do you mean?"

"you and Lucy were friends sure but it was like something had possessed you when she went missing," Sting said, "you wouldn't eat, wouldn't sleep, Levy's research was the only thing keeping you sane,"

"Guys we found something," Rogue announced as he walked up to them, "am I interrupting something?" he asked when he noticed the tense air surrounding the two,

"no, we were just talking," Sting said, put his arms around both Natsu and Rogue and started making their way in the direction that Yukino's scent was coming from.

 **FairyTail's POV End**

"Jiraiya, please find Lady Tsunade and bring her back to us," Gai pleaded with Sasuke hanging off of his back and Lucy next to him riding Slash,

"don't worry, we'll find her. Take care of Sasuke bushy brows," Naruto shouted and Lucy giggled at his words,

"you sure you're not coming kid?" Jiraiya asked looking at Lucy,

"No, now that I have some spare time I should be researching Lee's condition besides it's not like Tsunade would listen to me anyway," Lucy waved off,

"well Gai, we'll be leaving Sasuke and Lucy in your care then," Jiraiya said to Gai,

"Naruto, you've got guts, I like kids like that," Gai said and started reaching for something,

"oh no," Lucy mumbled,

"Here, I'm giving this to you, the reason why Lee is strong," Gai said, getting Naruto all excited and Gai gave Naruto a green, spandex all in one suit, a replica of the one himself and Lee wear,

"he gave one to me as well when we first met," Lucy said before motioning Slash to start moving and waved goodbye as they left.


	24. Chapter 24

It was almost two weeks later when Naruto showed up with Tsunade,

"this village has changed quite a bit while I was gone," Tsunade announced as she stared out over the village, "starting today, the village is my responsibility as the fifth Hokage,"

"I am amazed you were able to persuade her," one of the elders told Jiraiya,

"a handsome devil such as myself only needs his charm to persuade anyone," Jiraiya laughed,

"well, then lets gather the local lords and celebrate the inauguration of the fifth Hokage. Genma, Aoba announce this to the village," another elder commanded,

"now hold on just a moment," Lucy said as she walked into the area, "Tsunade has some things to do before that,"

"Yeah," Naruto agreed with her,

"now who exactly do you think you are?" one of the elders demanded of Lucy,

"my name is Lucy Heartfilia, past disciple of the now current fifth Hokage, soon to be disciple of Jiraiya and a member of the ANBU black ops, entrusted with the third Hokages documents that will now be passed onto Lady Tsunade," Lucy said sternly, both Jiraiya and Naruto looked surprised at her declaration while the elders just looked annoyed that a child was entrusted with late third Hokages most secret files, "Lady Tsunade you are needed in the hospital promptly, I will brief you on the way," Lucy said professionally and started leading the way to the hospital.

"I have never seen Lucy quite like that before," Naruto said out loud,

"she's started to take on a lot since you went to find Tsunade," Gai said as he come onto the scene,

"whatever I need to make sure the old lady heals Sasuke," Naruto said and ran after them, on the way out of the Hokage tower they bumped into Shikamaru and his father Shikaku. Lucy didn't pay attention to what they were saying as she continued onwards, knowing that the others would follow eventually.

 _'_ _damn that old man has left so much paperwork, what else do I have to do before Tsunade officially becomes the Hokage?'_ Lucy pondered to herself, _'I need to make sure all of the filing cabinets are organised so Shizune can find and store things easily, I need to make sure all of the hospitals files are in order and every shinobi is up to date with their yearly check-up, that reminds me, Kakashi has evaded his check up for months now. I also need to make sure that all of the newly graduated Genin and their Jonin leaders have missions to keep them busy while Tsunade settles in, Shikaku has been helping me deal with the elders and I need to make sure that my proposal for Tsunade is done by the time she settles in. I will also need to make sure Jiraiya stays in the village until this is all done.'_ Lucy listed off of the top of her head to herself, _'not to mention I still have business with the ANBU black ops and Danzo, I need to station a team to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't make a move against Tsunade,'_ Lucy let out an exhausted sigh,

"what are you thinking so hard about squirt?" Tsunade demanded as she caught up to Lucy in the hall,

"everything that needs to be done, oh Kakashi and Sasuke are under a powerful genjutsu that I can't heal because of my inability to see it, I could cause more damage if I tried to heal them and there's another boy Lee, he's Gai's disciple, I have made notes on his condition and ways to heal him I'll give you the notes once Kakashi and Sasuke wake up," Lucy explained,

"you have been busy, I also hear that Jiraiya is to be teaching you sealing techniques?" Shizune asked from behind Tsunade,

"Yes but I'm afraid that's going to have to be put on hold for a while, the leaf suffered a loss of shinobi and until more rise up through the ranks I'm going to have to continue active duty, on top of everything else I have to do I don't have the time to be learning sealing techniques," Lucy said quietly,

"what is it exactly that you have to do?" Tsunade asked her,

"too much to explain at the moment, I'll explain everything I'm doing when I debrief you on everything that you need to do once you officially become Hokage,"

"you're going to debrief me?" Tsunade asked in surprise,

"yes, there are some things that only you as the Hokage can know and I was entrusted to tell you," it wasn't exactly a lie, the third did entrust her with information that only he knew and left Lucy a scroll explaining everything that the fifth Hokage needed to know but what the late third didn't know is that Lucy was going to tell Tsunade everything.

 **Flashback**

Lucy had just gotten back to the village from the town she had found Naruto at with Gai, "hey Gai, I have to go somewhere, I'll go check on Kakashi, Sasuke and Lee once I'm done," she said and nudged Slash for him to change his direction.

Slash jumped onto a building and Lucy hopped off of his back, "I'll come and get you when you're ready," Slash said and jumped away to give Lucy some privacy. Lucy walked up to the monument in front of her,

"you know, it wasn't that long ago that we had a conversation about you leaving your mess behind for the next Hokage to clean up," she started, staring at the picture of the third Hokage, "and now Tsunade is going to come into a village where the old men have made a huge mess that she has to attempt to clean up, we'll be lucky if she doesn't hightail it out of here before they even make a start on carving her head into the mountain," she started to rant, "you left such a mess behind Sarutobi and so many loose ends to tie up," she sighed out before she smiled, "I guess I'm just going to have to extend my stay and help Tsunade clean up," she smiled before looking into the sky and calling for Slash,

"Lucy, Asuma gave me this to give to you, it's from the third Hokage," Slash said and dropped a scroll in front of Lucy. After reading the scroll Lucy hopped onto Slash's back and asked to be taken to the hospital to check in on everyone before asking to be taken back to Kakashi's apartment,

"I have a lot of planning to do," Lucy whispered to herself as she pulled out dozens of scrolls and started taking notes.

 **Flashback end**

"maybe I come in?" Tsunade asked as she walked into Sasuke's room,

"who are you?" Sakura asked,

"don't worry Sakura, she's a healer," Lucy said as she walked into the room,

"yeah, she's a great doctor," Naruto exclaimed,

"Lucy, Naruto," Sakura whispered before turning towards Tsunade, "I heard from Gai-sensei, please help Sasuke," Sakura pleaded,

"alright leave it all to me," Tsunade smiled at her, walking to Sasuke's bedside Tsunade placed a hand on his forehead and after a couple of minutes took her hand away and turned to Sakura, "he'll wake up soon,"

"Sasuke," Sakura cried out as Sasuke sat up in his bed and she ran to him, throwing her arms around him Sakura started crying. Naruto looked at the two and smiled sadly, Tsunade and Lucy made their way to Kakashi's room,

"you seem to be in more of a rush Lucy, what's that about?" Tsunade teased Lucy,

"nothing, you just have a lot more to do, I want to hurry it along," Lucy said, partially lying.

Once Tsunade had healed up Kakashi he sat up in his hospital bed, "you were beaten by only two enemies, I thought you were a genius," Tsunade chided him,

"shut your trap old hag," Lucy said and made her way to Kakashi,

"forget about this idiot and please take a look at my student Lee," Gai demanded as he saw that Kakashi was okay,

"hey," Lucy shouted,

"Lucy it's fine," Kakashi said as he grabbed her,

"you shouldn't be lifting anything," she scolded him as he picked up Lucy and placed her next to him on the bed,

"you shouldn't be taking on more then you can handle," Kakashi scolded as he looked at the bags that had gathered under Lucy's eyes,

"I have to give Tsunade the notes on Lee," Lucy said and was about to get off of the bed but Tsunade was the one who stopped her,

"just give them to me and Shizune and I will sort it out from there," Tsunade demanded,

"but,"

"no buts, you are officially on bedrest for the rest of the week,"

"but it's Tuesday," Lucy cried out in shock and reluctantly handed over her notes. Lucy fell asleep not too long later. Kakashi carried her back to his apartment and settled her into her room before looking over at the windowsill and saw a bird there summoning him,

"I've already got a mission to do," Kakashi sighed and wrote a quick note for when Lucy woke up and made his way to the Hokage's tower.

 **Time skip**

Lucy woke up a few hours later and read the note Kakashi left for her, "a mission already? I thought I divided the missions still left to do, unless they got more requests?" Lucy questioned herself, "I should go check on Sasuke and then go find Tsunade," Lucy said and stretched before getting ready and making her way towards the hospital but she saw Naruto and Sasuke fighting on the roof of the hospital building. "what are those idiots doing?" Naruto had a whole lot of clone surrounding Sasuke but Sasuke had just blown out a fireball jutsu and destroyed all of the clones then once the smoke disappeared Naruto had one clone out beside him and it started to make a ball of chakra in his hands, "what the hell, that much chakra could kill Sasuke," Lucy whispered to herself and was about to intervene when Sasuke made the Chidori in his hand, "they're really going to kill each other," Lucy panicked and started to race towards them,

"Stop," Sakura screamed and started to run towards them, Lucy quickly got in front of Sakura and kicked her away before the boys could hurt her but it left Lucy open, a blur appeared in front of Lucy and grabbed Naruto's and Sasuke's jutsu filled hands and twisted around before throwing them into the water tanks on the other side of the hospital roof.

"Kakashi," Lucy whispered,

"Hey, you two. What are you doing on the roof of the hospital, if you're fighting, you're getting too heated both of you," Kakashi demanded, both of the boys pulled their hands away from the water tanks and Sasuke was left looking smug at the small whole Naruto made, "why are you so obsessed with your superiority complex, Sasuke?" Kakashi said as he sat on top of the water tank Sasuke was in front of, "that level of Chidori, isn't appropriate to be used on your own comrade, were you trying to kill Naruto?" Kakashi scolded and Lucy narrowed her eyes, "Where did such immature behaviour come from," Sasuke did a turn about face and tried to jump over the wired fence of the hospital roof,

"Now hold on just a minute Sasuke Uchiha," Lucy commanded and Sasuke flinched slightly a her tone, he turned slightly towards her as did Naruto but she had her bangs covering her eyes, "Naruto Uzamaki, Sasuke Uchiha," Lucy started before she turned her face upwards towards them, she had her eyes activated and she was glaring at them like she never has before, "If I ever catch you doing those techniques against each other or another member of the leaf, especially without permission I will make sure you can never perform ninjutsu again," Lucy said in a deadly tone, "I have never been so disappointed with you boys, you could have killed one another," both Sasuke and Naruto looked away from her, "and what's worse you put Sakura in danger," Sakura looked down at this, "Naruto you and I are going to have a serious talk but for now Sasuke, I'm talking to you first," Lucy commanded and stormed up to Sasuke who flinched slightly at the murderous look in her eyes, she grabbed him by the ear and started dragging him away.

Sasuke grunted as Lucy dragged him over the wired fence, Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw the back of the water tank that Naruto got slammed into and he glared viciously once again and shrugged Lucy off and punched the side of the building that Lucy had dragged him to. "Sasuke Uchiha if you want to act like a child and throw a tantrum go ahead but you will not cause harm to anyone while you do so, especially your teammates,"

"you always liked him better," Sasuke whispered,

"what do you mean?" Lucy questioned and was surprised at the look Sasuke gave her,

"you always liked Naruto better, what's so special about that loser?" Sasuke glared and Lucy sighed,

"you know Naruto said something similar to me about you once," Lucy said and Sasuke was surprised, "I care about you both the same but I treat you differently because you are different people," Lucy explained, "Naruto needs to be coddled during everyday life, someone to cook and clean for him but you don't need that, you need someone to heal your injuries and make sure you're eating right," Sasuke looked down at this, "Naruto can understand why this situation is so serious just by what is being said and how we are treating him," Lucy explained, "you however, won't listen to anyone no matter the consequences so I need to drill it into you another way," Lucy said and grabbed Sasuke's ear again, "come," she commanded and continued to drag him,

"I can follow on my own," Sasuke complained,

"I don't trust that you won't try to run," was all Lucy said and suddenly Sasuke was thrown against a tree, he grunted before turning to glare at Lucy, "now this is the first time I'm trying this so it might hurt slightly," Lucy said,

"wait, what are you doing?" Sasuke demanded to know as she moved closer to him,

"I'm going to show something from my past and then I'm going to explain why I showed it to you," Lucy said and started to draw a seal onto Sasuke's forehead and then one on her own, "ready?" Lucy asked but didn't wait for an answer before she opened her mind and let Sasuke in.

Sasuke yelled out as he dropped into an open space, it was all dark and hazy, like a tunnel with no start or end, "Lucy," Sasuke called out but no one answered, something started to light up beside him and he walked towards it, he hesitantly started to reach out to it and as soon as he touched the light he was thrown once again. Sasuke landed in a field that was covered in grass and looked towards the middle of it, Lucy was standing there chanting but she looked different, younger. "Lucy," Sasuke called out again and moved towards her he went to touch her shoulder but his hand went through her shoulder, "is this a memory? Is that what she meant by looking into her past?" Sasuke asked himself and continued to watch,

"Oh the stars far and wide that embody the heavens, by thy radiance reveal thy form to me, I implore Tetrobiblios eternal ruler of the stars above, now that the aspect is complete let your unrestrained rage flow, open you raging tumultuous gate, with all 88 heavenly bodies shining, Urano Metria," Sasuke heard Lucy shout and was confused by the chanting but was surprised by what happened next. What looked to be mini meteors surrounded Lucy and shot out towards the trees, destroying them. Looking back towards Lucy, Sasuke saw her let out a deep breath and fall to the ground exhausted but then he heard a twig snap, both memory Lucy and Sasuke himself looked towards where it came from and felt a familiar aura, Sasuke watched at Lucy tried to crawl away but a very familiar tongue wrapped itself around Lucy's ankle and Sasuke suddenly felt the blood drain from his face.

 _'_ _no don't tell, this is how she met Orochimaru,'_ Sasuke thought to himself as he continued to watch on, he watched as Lucy's old sensei that she never told him about showed up and got stabbed and he watched and listened to Lucy's last thoughts before she passed out,

"All that training, all that hard work and I couldn't do anything. Was it really all for nothing?" Sasuke heard Lucy's voice ring out through the area but her mouth didn't move and it was then that she passed out and Sasuke found himself in front of Lucy once again. Breathing deeply Sasuke stared at Lucy as she placed a hand on her hip and brought the other to her chin,

"damn, I was hoping to show you something else but the seal ran out of time," she said,

"why did you show me that?" Sasuke wondered out loud,

"because Sasuke, you need to know what would happen if you made that choice," Lucy said sternly but Sasuke didn't say anything, "I know how tempted you are, you think I wasn't when I assumed my sensei had been killed? I was tempted to just give in to Orochimaru,"

"why didn't you?" Sasuke wondered,

"because the power wouldn't have been my own," Lucy explained, "it would've been like every victory that I would have achieved wouldn't have been my own. It would have been his," Lucy finished, "there's also something else that I want to tell you, it has nothing to do with what happened between you and Naruto," Lucy said,

"what is it?" Sasuke questioned,

"that monster, Orochimaru, tortured me, ran experiments on me and made me hurt people, I want nothing more then to see that man dead," Lucy said lowly and Sasuke looked surprised because he has never seen Lucy want to kill someone before, "so if you ever do decide to follow that man I will never forgive you," Sasuke was even more surprised at the tone she used, it was like she was emotionless, "I'm sure you can understand me when I say that if you get in my way, I will go straight through you," with that Lucy turned around, "Kakashi, I'll see you when you get back," she said and jumped away.

Sasuke tried to get up and run before he got another lecture but Kakashi tied him to a tree and jumped down to where Lucy had been standing just moments before. As Kakashi watched Lucy leave he sighed, "she doesn't mean that, Orochimaru is just a sensitive subject for her," when Sasuke didn't respond Kakashi continued, "she's not really going to go after Orochimaru she just wanted to throw your own words back at you," Kakashi then turned to Sasuke who was glaring at him, "that feeling of betrayal at what she said is what it'll feel like for her if you followed Orochimaru, choosing your revenge over your friendship with Lucy would crush her," still Sasuke said nothing, "if you really plan on throwing that away don't expect things to ever be the same with Lucy again,"

Lucy was jumping on buildings towards the direction that Sakura pointed to when Lucy asked where Naruto went, seeing him walking slowly with his hands in his pockets Lucy jumped down and landed in front of him. Staring silently at Naruto as he stopped walking, he looking away from Lucy not meeting her gaze,

"nothing to say?" Lucy questioned firmly and Naruto had to stop himself from flinching but he still didn't say anything just shrugged his shoulders and Lucy became frustrated at this, "seriously? After all of that and you just shrug? Like nothing ever happened?" Lucy fired at him,

"Lucy," Naruto said and Lucy looked at him but what he said next was not what she was expecting, "I already told Sakura but I'll say it to you as well. What happens between me and Sasuke is none of your business," Naruto tried to walk past her but Lucy wasn't letting it happen,

"excuse me?" she asked calmly,

"it has nothing to do with you so stop interfering," as Naruto went to walk away again Lucy suddenly slapped him. Naruto's face turned to the side, his eyes wide and when he looked back at her Lucy was crying,

"how dare you say that to me," Lucy yelled at him, her voice shaking, "who the hell do you think you're talking to?" Naruto was too surprised to say anything, "after everything you and I have been through and you think you have a right to tell me not to interfere? Things like this don't just affect you and Sasuke it effects Sakura, Kakashi and I as well and you think we don't have a right to be involved?" she continued to yell at him furiously, "what are we supposed to do? Just stand there while you two kill each other because you can't see eye to eye for once?" she questioned him, her voice levelling out at her normal volume.

Lucy took a deep breath before continuing, "I know I don't have to lecture you on why what you did was wrong because you should understand that by now, but it appears that you are too immature to realise how this effects those around you. Stop deciding things on your own and start looking to the people you have in your life," at this Lucy pulled Naruto into a hug, "don't you know that you're not alone anymore?" Lucy whispered to him and at this Naruto returned the hug.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

 **FairyTail's POV**

Yukino was looking over a scroll as Rogue came back with Natsu and Sting, "I think I found something, I don't know if it involves Lucy but it definitely involves another world," Yukino started and the boys started to pay attention, "this scroll speaks of a legend on how the keys were originally made and it's like nothing I've ever heard about," Yukino started and turned the scroll towards the boys.

"It speaks of a family that made a connection with the stars and through an ancient ritual of some kind created a staff that held the power of the past, present and future, apparently it held so much power that the staff could bring back the dead and summon all of the celestial spirits," Yukino explained,

"okay, what does that have to do with another world?" Sting buts in,

"look here, it also says that the staff could travel and make gateways to other dimensions," Yukino said, "it caused wars between the different branches of the family tree that wanted the staff for themselves so the main family destroyed the staff and divided it into 13 keys, 12 golden and 1 black and the keys were split up between the family branches, the main family only kept one key,"

"so they zodiac keys were originally combined?" Rogue asked and Yukino nodded,

"apparently the staff can become one again but only if all 13 keys are present, a member of the main family and during a solar eclipse," Yukino explained, "well in theory anyway,"

"so who's the main family?" Natsu asked,

"no one knows the original family, it's said that they were royalty and founded this land but passed on the royal title to the Fiore family. Since then no one has even heard of the main family since," Yukino said sadly,

"then let's go ask Princess Hisui and see if she knows," Happy said,

"great idea Happy, lets go," Natsu shouted and started to make his way out of the temple,

"wait, you can't just go ask the Princess about sensitive information like this," Yukino shouted in worry,

"if it's to help Lucy then I think Hisui will help us out," Happy said from over Natsu's shoulder, the members of Sabretooth all looked at one another before shrugging their shoulders in amusement and followed Natsu out of the temple, but not before Yukino could take note of everything to send to Levy from the royal palace when they eventually got there.

 **FairyTail's POV End**

Lucy watched as Sasuke started to walk down the dirt road with a bag on his back and was about to confront him when she saw Sakura walking from behind a tree, "what are you doing out here in the middle of the night?" Sasuke asked Sakura,

"everyone who leaves have to pass through this road," Sakura responded and Lucy realised that Sakura wasn't as naïve as she pretended to be,

"you should go back to bed," Sasuke responded and kept walking past Sakura, once he passed her, tears started running down her face,

"I was always making you angry, do you still remember?" Sakura asked him and Sasuke stopped walking, "when we first became genin and the three of us formed a group together, the first time I talked to you alone. You got mad at me," hearing this Lucy was confused since she wasn't there,

"I don't remember that," Sasuke replied to her and Sakura looked up at him sad,

"I thought so too, it was so long ago. But since that day, you, Naruto, Kakashi-sensei and I and sometimes Lucy, the five of us have completed many missions. It was tiring and difficult but more than anything it made me happy." Sasuke didn't say anything, "I know about what happened to your family but a thing like revenge can never bring anyone happiness, it will not bring you happiness Sasuke but I," Sasuke cut her off then,

"like I thought, I am not like the rest of you. We have different paths that we must walk, when the five of us were complaining about missions together I had thought that was my path, but after everything my heart tells me I am an avenger this is why I'm alive. I will never be like you and Naruto," at those words Sakura started crying again,

"Sasuke, do you plan on being alone again? You were the one who told me the pain of loneliness. Right now I feel that pain too, even though I have family and friends but without Sasuke in my life, to me I will still be lonely," Sakura cried,

"these are just the new steps we must take on our individual paths," Sasuke told her,

"I like you, I like you so much that I can't stand it," Sakura said while crying, "if you and I were together, I swear I won't let you regret it. We'll live happily every day, we'll definitely find happiness together. I am willing to do anything for you. So please, I'm begging you, stay," Sasuke didn't say anything to this, he didn't even turn around, "I'd kill for you, anything you want me to do, I will do it for you. Please, stay here together with me, if that's not possible then take me with you," Sakura started to sob,

"you really are, very annoying," Sasuke said and finally turned around to face her, Sakura's eyes widened and Sasuke turned back around and started walking again.

"Don't go," Sakura cried out desperately, "if you take one more step I'll start screaming," Sasuke then appeared behind Sakura,

"Sakura, thank you," he whispered and hit the back of her neck. Sakura fell unconscious and Sasuke laid her down on the bench that was beside them,

"well that wasn't very nice," Lucy called out as she appeared in front of Sasuke,

"Lucy," Sasuke growled, he knew that he couldn't beat her,

"a girl pours her heart out to you, telling you that she would do anything for you, you call her annoying and hit the back of her neck," Lucy said in a mocking tone, she was tired.

"are you going to try and stop me too?" Sasuke said and pulled out a kunai,

"I've already lectured you about Orochimaru and what would happen if you chose him," Lucy said and Sasuke suddenly smirked,

"you wouldn't do that, you're not that kind of person," he said confident that Lucy wouldn't hold up to what she said to him,

"you really think so?" Lucy questioned him, "I've found that when it comes to Orochimaru and those he associates with I become quite unpredictable,"

"Kakashi said that you won't go after Orochimaru so I don't have anything to worry about,"

"I never said anything about going after him, just that I want him dead and if I have to go through you I will," Lucy corrected him, "I'm not one that goes out blindly seeking revenge because I know what it does to people but that doesn't mean I would let Orochimaru live if given the chance," Sasuke looked surprised at her words, which had been happening a lot that day. Until today Sasuke had never found Lucy to be intimidating, even with all of her skills she was never one to use them against people, including her enemies. Yet, here she was threatening him once again,

"you wouldn't do that to me," Sasuke glared at her, "you care to much about me, not to mention that Naruto and Sakura would never forgive you,"

"that may be so but I care about my sensei too you know," Lucy said, "you know the one you saw in my memories, let me tell you, in my memories I appeared that he died but it was faked, he was alive and he was working for Orochimaru,"

"why does that matter to me?" Sasuke growled,

"because after that I killed him," Lucy said coldly, emotionless, yes that wasn't exactly what happened but Lucy didn't want to explain it to him. Sasuke was shocked, he froze and for the first time since they met, Sasuke was scared of Lucy.

Lucy started to walk towards him and he held up the kunai in front of him, trying to stop himself from shaking but was shocked when Lucy walked straight passed him, "you're not going to stop me?" he whispered into the night,

"no, you've made your choice," Lucy said firmly, "and I've made mine," she kept walking and Sasuke didn't move until he could no longer hear her footsteps. As Sasuke was walking he held a hand to his heart, he could still hear it beating fast and hard from what just happened, he continued walking down the path he had chosen but he couldn't stop the small feeling of loss that erupted within in, like he had just lost his family all over again.


	25. Chapter 25

Lucy opened the door to the Hokages office without knocking and saw Tsunade passed out on the desk, surrounded by sake bottles, empty ones. Lucy sighed, looked over all of the available missions and assigned herself to one, leaving a note letting Tsunade know that she was doing said mission before leaving through the window.

Lucy had her ANBU mask on as she jumped through the trees, "hey beautiful, want to tell me why you are out of the village in uniform?" Loke questioned her as he appeared before her,

"no," Lucy said and continued racing through the trees,

"why not? I'm sure you have a lot to say about what just happened," Loke teased slightly but left it up to her to continue,

"I said no," Lucy announced and started to get frustrated, "there's nothing to talk about and I'm on a mission,"

"there's a lot to talk about, it doesn't necessarily have to be about what just happened," Loke said, "we could talk about what you're going to tell Naruto and Sakura tomorrow because you can't keep this conversation from them," Loke dropped the bomb onto Lucy and her footsteps faltered slightly, "Or perhaps what you're going to tell Kakashi, considering you two still haven't had a proper conversation since before the third part of the Chunin exams." Lucy began to get slower, "or we could talk about what you're plan is now since you decided to extend your stay and help Tsunade," Loke continued, "there's a lot to talk about."

Lucy fully stopped at this and groaned at the mess she had created for herself, but it did make her question a lot. Like how Naruto and Sakura are going to react to what she has to tell them, she knew that Sakura would probably hate her for not forcing Sasuke to stay and Naruto would have a hard time forgiving or maybe even trusting her again. As for Kakashi, he will be disappointed in her but will try not to let it show because he'll think that it's only his failure and not hers.

Lucy also didn't know how to bring up the Chidori thing to Kakashi either, Lucy still thought that it was a mistake to teach Sasuke that jutsu, especially while he's still a genin but she also understood why he did it. Kakashi wanted to show Sasuke that he could gain power if he stayed within the village, that he didn't need Orochimaru to complete his goal. Lucy understood and yet she didn't, she didn't understand why Kakashi had to teach Sasuke that particular jutsu, why not another A or S rank jutsu, why not teach him how to use the Sharingan properly, there are so many things that Lucy wanted to know but she didn't even know if it mattered anymore because Sasuke is no longer in the village.

"tell me what you're thinking Lucy," Loke spoke up after watching Lucy think to herself for a few minutes,

"Tsunade is going to send a team to go and retrieve Sasuke tomorrow and she will want to send me because I'm a medical ninja," Lucy spoke up her most recent thoughts,

"what are you going to do?" Loke asked,

"Well I'm not in the village and the only way she could contact me would be through summoning's, by that time it'll be too late," she huffed and then looked down angrily, "besides I would refuse to go anyway,"

"you don't mean that, you're upset," Loke said softly, he knew that Lucy cared much for Sasuke and that she was hurting at his choice,

"no I do mean it, even if I am upset. Sasuke Uchiha is a traitor to Konoha, to his team, to what he could have had if he just asked for help. Sasuke Uchiha chose to become an ally to my torturer and I don't think I can ever forgive him for that," Lucy spoke softly,

"Lucy," Loke whispered and pulled her into a hug.

Lucy pulled back from Loke, "I'm fine," she whispered,

"then why are you here and not helping those ninja bring Sasuke back?" Loke asked her,

"I just told you," Lucy exclaimed frustrated,

"Lucy, if you were really fine, you wouldn't be out here," Loke said a matter of factly, "you feel betrayed that Sasuke chose his revenge over you, over what Orochimaru put you through," Lucy looked away from him, "and you feel like you should have done more, that maybe if you had told Sasuke and the rest about Orochimaru sooner this never would have happened," Loke continued gently, "but I think Sasuke would have left the village either way,"

"what do you mean?" Lucy asked Loke confused,

"you saw the way Itachi treated him when Sasuke went after him, how he locked Sasuke in the Tsukiyomi, Itachi would have made him re-watch that night over and over again," Lucy was silent about what Loke was saying, "as long as Itachi wants Sasuke to hate him, he will,"

"Itachi is a very good actor," Lucy whispered,

"anyway that's not what I wanted to talk to you about, I came to ask you why you took this mission in the first place,"

"I needed to leave the village, I was too upset and angry and I would have destroyed something if I stayed there any longer,"

"What about the shinobi that she sent to retrieve Sasuke?" Loke asked her, "they need a medical ninja and currently you are the only one on duty that would be able to go," Lucy just looked away, "this is Orochimaru that we are talking about, what type of ninja do you think he's going to send to intercept the leaf shinobi?" Lucy looked up at Loke in realisation, she was so caught up in her anger that she didn't even think about that.

 **FairyTail's POV**

"You want me to give you top secret information on an ancient staff that could potentially bring back the dead or worse?" Princess Hisui's voice rang out through the throne room,

"yep," Natsu responded with a grin on his face with his hands behind his head,

"that about sums it up," Happy continued on for him, behind them, the Sabretooth mages and their exceeds sweatdropped profusely,

"please, your highness," Yukino stepped in, "we've been looking into the disappearance of Lucy Heartfilia and have a found a lead," Hisui paused at the mention of Lucy,

"even if I could allow you access to that information all of the information about ancient celestial magic has been lost or destroyed," Hisui told them dejectedly, "believe me, I've tried looking into it. I wanted more information on the original family, they are the ones that gave the Fiore family the throne in the first place."

"Please, isn't there anything that you could tell us?" Yukino asked desperately, "you somehow got the knowledge for the Gottfried spell, where did you find that?"

"As I've told you, Gottfried is a magic long forgotten, it is a spell in which to provide peace and protection," Hisui started, "it is a spell that has been passed down through the celestial spirit mages in my family, my mother taught it to me and her mother to her," Yukino looked disappointed at this explanation though, because it means that there is no recorded information that they can look for,

"you're not telling us something," Rogue suddenly spoke up and everyone looked at him,

"you dare question the ruler of your country," a guard standing beside Hisui countered,

"it's true, she knows something and she's not telling us," Rogue stubbornly stood his ground, "what could it be for you not to help locate Miss Lucy?"

Everyone turned to look at Hisui who sighed and closed her eyes, "I have been ordered not to tell you anything," she announced and they all looked at her with confusion and questions turning in their eyes,

"who ordered you?" Sting asked,

"I cannot tell you that either," the Princess told them,

"what can you tell us then?" Rogue asked,

"I can only tell you that Lucy is where she needs to be," Hisui said and despite Natsu's outraged attempts to get more answers they were all escorted out of the throne room and outside of the castle. Yukino made sure to add it to the notes to send to Levy.

Back at the FairyTail guild the Sabre's, Natsu and Happy were giving the news to everyone, "we finally get a lead, only to be deliberately kept in the dark," Levy muttered coldly,

"So, now we know that someone has been targeting Lucy and that it is highly likely that it's the Celestial Spirit King," Erza announced after Levy's statement,

"Hisui also said that Lucy is where she needs to be," Sting said, "what do you think that could mean?" he questioned,

"I do not know, however, I think it's safe to assume that she is safe for the time being," Erza answered,

"Maybe the Celestial Spirit King sent Lucy to wherever she is, so that she could help someone," Wendy spoke up,

"if that was the case then why not tell all of us and have all of us help out? Why just Lucy?" Levy answered her and then they all sat there in silence.

"Why is it always Lucy?" Macao suddenly spoke up, "I mean, she's always been a target to someone since day one," he expressed,

"that's right, she was an heiress to a large company," Wakaba spoke up,

"and then all of those times people wanted her for her magic type," Romeo said,

"Celestial Spirit mages are very rare," Erza explained,

"not only that but my descendant is a very powerful one," Anna Heartfilia announced as she walked through the doors of the guild,

"Miss Anna," the dragon slayers said together in surprise,

"what are you doing here? Not that you're not welcome," Erza asked,

"I heard that you found a lead on Lucy, may I know what you have found?" Anna asked them.

"There's something that I haven't told you all, something that Lucy doesn't even know about the Heartfilia family," Anna announced after everyone had explained everything,

"what do you mean Miss Anna?" Wendy asked,

"I mean, celestial magic has been a part of the Heartfilia line for generations upon generations and it is said that we were wielders of the keys since they were created," Anna explained and looked down, "which would mean," she got cut off before she could continue,

"which would mean that the Heartfilia's were the original family," Erza finished off for her and Anna nodded in confirmation of what she said,

"yes, we were. When my ancestors stepped on the lands of Fiore it wasn't even Fiore, the Fiore family were a branch of our clan and since the Heartfilia's were always off on adventures or discovering new things they left the Fiore family in charge of the lands and eventually the Heartfilia's name was lost in history," Anna explained,

"wait, clan?" Wendy questioned, "what clan and how could the Fiore family be a branch of the Heartfilia's?"

"the Heartfilia's were the main family of a clan long ago, the Fiore family was rumoured to be a side branch and the other branches were lost in history. I guess a side branch could be considered a cousin to the main family, you see the Heartfilia's were considered to be the most powerful because they actually created the celestial keys," at this Yukino gasped in shock,

"so that means the Heartfilia's created the staff that was then split?" Yukino asked Anna,

"that's right, we found a way to connect with the stars and call upon the spirits that inhabited them. The side branches grew concerned and scared of the power the staff held and war broke out as you already know," Anna continued,

"if the Heartfilia's were really this powerful then how does no one know of this?" Levy asked,

"because the Heartfilia's weren't always known as Heartfilia," Anna announced and everyone was surprised,

"what do you mean? What were they known as before?" Gajeel asked,

"to be honest, I do not know," Anna sighed, "there are no records of that name, not that I know of,"

"Why is everything so secret?" Yukino asked,

"because this magic is very powerful, so after the civil war between the clan all records of the origins were destroyed," Anna replied,

"so how does this help us find Lucy?" Natsu asked,

"yeah, Lucy has a majority of the celestial keys with her and even if she did have all of them she probably wouldn't be able to do the ritual to reunite the staff to come back," Levy offered an explanation,

"because if she really is in another world, she might be able to make a connection to this one," Anna explained,

"Miss Anna, do you know what world Lucy is in?" Wendy asked,

"as a matter of fact I might," everyone looked at Anna with shock, "or at least I know how she got there."

"a key?" the guild and the visitors from Sabretooth all said, Anna nodded yes,

"a key," she confirmed, "since she's a direct descendent of the original family, the key would have activated upon sensing Lucy close by," Anna explained, "they key would have drawn Lucy in, it would have been almost impossible for her to resist it,"

"what do you mean?" Erza asked,

"did you ever notice that all of Lucy's spirits have a nickname for her?" Anna asked and when most people confirmed what she said, "well that's not just because she lets them, they feel connected to her the moment they meet her," Anna said, "Lucy has bonded with her spirits to the extent that they trust her to equip their powers, the only other person that could do this was her mother,"

"Layla Heartfilia?" Gray asked out loud,

"yes but before Layla could develop it further she passed away," Anna continued,

"what does the bond between Lucy and her spirits have to with the key?" Erza questioned,

"it's not just the bond but the connection between the Heartfilia's and the spirit realm,"

"wait, is that how Lucy got the Spirit king to change his mind about a law?" Yukino asked,

"she did what?" Anna asked,

"back when she first joined the guild," Gray started to explain, "back then Loke was banished from the spirit world and Lucy got the Spirit King to change his mind and let Loke go back,"

"how on earth did she do that?" Anna asked in awe,

"we're not quite sure, no one was there except for Lucy, Loke and the King," Erza replied, "why do you sound so surprised?"

"because that has never been done before," Anna exclaimed, "no human has ever been able to change a law before, it should be impossible,"

"why impossible?" Wendy asked,

"because humans are not a part of the Celestial realm, we do not understand their ways so we don't get a say," Yukino explained, "that's why I was so surprised that the Celestial Spirit King cared so much about Miss Lucy's opinion, now that I know that Miss Lucy is a direct descendent of the original family it makes more sense,"

"yes, but our opinions would still be overlooked, the Heartfilia's are greatly respected yes but not to that extent," Anna continued,

"so what does this mean?" Gray asked,

"it means that the bond that Lucy has created between herself and the Spirit realm is a lot stronger than I thought," Anna said, "no wonder that key teleported her, I bet it did it the second she touched it,"

"why would the bond affect the key?" Natsu asked, starting to get a bit irritated with how to conversation as going,

"because it would mean that the Spirit King has given Lucy his blessing," Anna said and everyone even Yukino was confused, "what I mean is that Lucy is the only one who is able to use that key. It also means that Lucy is the only one able to use the Staff,"

"but I thought anyone from the original family could use it?" Yukino asked and Anna shook her head no,

"no, while it is true that only a member of the original family can use it but only those that have the blessing of the Spirit King can combine all of the keys once again." Anna sighed, "because the staff is so dangerous only those who have the trust and loyalty of the stars can wield the staff,"

"so we've reached another dead end?" Natsu asked kind of angry,

"calm down Natsu," Erza scolded,

"How can I calm down? It's been years since we've had a lead and we've hit another dead end," Natsu run his hand through his hair as Happy looked down,

"yes but we've eliminated another impossible, now only the possible remain," Levy said,

"yeah and now we know that Lucy can get to us from her side, we only need a way to tell her how," Gray confirmed,

"for now all we can do is more research and hope to find a way to contact her," Erza said and placed a hand on Natsu's shoulder.

 **Fairytail POV End**

Lucy was running through the tree's rushing back in the direction of the leaf, "so finally done with your mission Princess," Loke called as he forced himself out of his gate and started running beside her,

"In case you didn't notice Loke, I'm in a bit of a rush," Lucy huffed out at him,

"I did notice that, but I thought I should prepare you for when you walk through the Hokages office," Loke said,

"prepare me for what?" Lucy questioned,

"well, I may have been flirting with one of the nurses at the hospital when I heard Shizune and Tsunade discussing something," Loke said, "and you're not going to like it,"

"what is it?" Lucy asked,

"She sent Genin after Sasuke," Loke said and then quickly flashed back to the spirit realm when he saw the look on Lucy's face,

"damn that old hag," Lucy grumbled and bit her thumb, "ninja art: summoning jutsu," Lucy called out and Slash appeared before her, "get me to the leaf as fast as you can" Lucy stated and jumped onto his back and Slash took off,

"hello Slash, how are you, it's nice to see you," Slash mockingly said but didn't question her either way,

"sorry, hey, it is nice to see you but pleasantries are going to have to wait a bit," Lucy said seriously, "we've got a problem and I have little Genin to go after."

 **Time Skip**

Lucy didn't even greet the guards at the gates she just raced through with Slash still summoned, "don't go anywhere I'm gonna need you to get me to the Genin," Lucy said and Slash nodded as he waited outside of the Hokage's office, "Old Hag I finished that mission it was a success, here's the report, bye," was all Lucy said as she walked to the Hokage's desk, placed a folder on it and then turn around to walk straight after,

"now wait a minute, I didn't authorise this mission you just took it and where on earth do you think you're going now?" Tsunade demanded,

"I needed to get out of the village for a bit, now I'm going after those Genin that you let go after Sasuke and I'm going to need you to organise a team of nurses or something to go after me so I can get them back to the village safely," Lucy said and tried to continue to leave,

"wait, how did you know Sasuke left and how did you know I sent Genin to go get him?" Tsunade questioned suspicious,

"I'll answer all of your questions when I get back," Lucy said and this time she ran through the door and jumped onto Slash again who started running towards the gates once again.

Slash was running in the direction of Naruto's sent that he picked up on and he spotted something in the distance, "Lucy, I think that's one of your Genin," he said,

"Okay, can you continue onwards and try and find the others while I try to stabilise Choji, make sure to bring them to me if they can be moved," Lucy said and jumped off of Slash, he nodded and continued onwards, "ninja art: summoning jutsu," Lucy called out and over a dozen large tigers came to stand in front of her, "follow Slash he'll explain everything," she commanded and started to get to work on Choji while all of the tigers jumped away. "Tenrou no Sacha," she called out and activated her eyes and started to stabilise Choji.

Not long later Slash came running back, "there's a Genin that I can't move but he looks bad, a Hyuga I think,"

"Neji?" Lucy whispered to herself. Lucy leaned Choji up against a tree, "open gate of the Maiden, Virgo," Lucy called out,

"punishment princess?" Virgo asked,

"not this time, I need you to watch over Choji and set up a gurney to make it easier to get him back to the village," Lucy said, both Slash and Lucy then jumped into the direction of Neji and left Virgo to do her thing.

Lucy was looking over Neji and frowned, "this is going to be more complicated, I can only get him into a position where he can be moved," Lucy said, "Slash I'm going to need you to take him back to the village straight away," with that Lucy got to work and Slash stayed with her, ready to take Neji back to the village.

Lucy was watching Slash run off with Neji back towards the village with a worried expression on her face, "if I had just come with them then this never would have happened," she whispered to herself and clenched her fist tightly.

"Lucy, please help me," she heard someone call out to her and saw Kiba on top of one of her tigers, holding Akamaru tightly, "he needs help," he whispered and Lucy quickly ran over to them and asked Kiba to lay Akamaru on the ground gently, "can you help him,"

"well, I'm not a vet but I should be able to make sure he can get to one safely," Lucy said as she looked over Akamaru with her eyes and started healing any internal injuries. Kiba sighed in relief and sank to the ground, "before I send you both off I need to make sure you don't have a concussion or lost too much blood," Lucy said once she finished looking over Akamaru and turned to Kiba,

"but he'll be okay right?" Kiba asked,

"of course, just make sure to pass him onto one of your sisters as soon as you can," Lucy assured him and sent him off on the tiger that bought him to her,

"you're not a Genin are you?" someone asked Lucy as they came into view,

"you're Kankuro right?" Lucy asked him, ignoring his question, "what are sand shinobi doing here?"

"your Hokage requested our help and the sand siblings answered,"

"so Temari and Gaara are also here?"

"yeah, I think Temari is helping Shikamaru and Gaara is helping Lee,"

"that old hag sent Lee?" Lucy yelled outraged,

"umm, I think he snuck out after his operation," Kankuro said, his voice suddenly very small and Lucy sighed,

"I should go and check on the others, can you make sure that Choji has been taken back to the village please, I left a summons in charge of making sure that back up got him back safely," Lucy asked and was off once again.

Jumping through the trees Lucy came across Shikamaru and Temari, "Lucy?" Shikamaru exclaimed in surprise as she landed in front of them,

"Do either of you need healing?" Lucy asked,

"no we're both fine," Temari said,

"what about Choji and the others?" Shikamaru asked,

"I have stabilised everyone and they are all on their way to the village for further treatment, they should all be okay," Lucy said and watched Shikamaru sigh with relief, "I heard that Lee snuck out of the hospital to help, do you know where he is, I also want to make sure Gaara is okay," Lucy said and Temari looked shocked,

"they should be just up ahead, Naruto also went after Sasuke, I don't think either one of them would come out okay in that fight," Shikamaru said and Lucy nodded. Lucy whistled a little a two tigers came out from behind the trees,

"can you take these two back to the village? I need to go on ahead," Lucy said and jumped away knowing that they'd listen to her.

Continuing onwards Lucy eventually came across Lee and Gaara, Gaara had Lee with him on a cloud of sand and below them were these white and beige coloured spikes,

"Miss Lucy," Lee said loudly and waved from where he was with Gaara,

"Lee, Gaara, do either of you need healing?" Lucy yelled up to them,

"No, we're okay,"

"then go back to the village and rest while I look for Naruto," Lucy replied and continued on her way. _'this place? How fitting,'_ Lucy thought to herself as she looked around. "Naruto," Lucy called out, turning her head towards the water below she gasped jumping down Lucy ran over to Naruto an saw Sasuke walking into the forest ahead of them.

"Sasuke, I will never forgive you for hurting them," Lucy yelled after him, "they were your friends and maybe if you weren't so self-centred you'd see that." Lucy said and started to cry as she started to heal Naruto.

Lucy looked up when she saw something out of the corner of her eye and saw Kakashi standing over them. She stopped healing Naruto so Kakashi could lift him up onto his back and with that they both started to make their back to the village, neither one of them said anything the entire time.

Lucy was in the waiting room with Kakashi as they took Naruto away, she still hadn't said anything, "Tsunade said something interesting to me before I went after Naruto," Kakashi spoke and when Lucy didn't move or say anything he continued, "She told me that no one told you that Sasuke left yet you still knew and you knew that she sent Genin after him," Lucy still didn't make any move to explain herself, "Lucy," Kakashi called out to her and she turned to look at him,

"I need to go and fill out my report for Tsunade," she whispered and stood up,

"no, not until you tell me what happened," Kakashi grabbed her arm,

"I'll explain later," Lucy tried to shrug him off,

"yeah I've heard that before, lately that's the only thing we say to one another," Kakashi said, "Lucy, what's going on? What happened?" he questioned,

"Like I said I'll explain later," Lucy whispered,

"no you're going to tell me now," Kakashi said,

"I really only want to say it once or twice, I'll tell Tsunade first, then I'll tell you, Naruto and Sakura what happened," Lucy said,

"Like I said, you're going to tell me now," Kakashi said and kept a hold of her arm and stood up, he started to drag her out of the hospital,

"why can't you wait until I tell Sakura and Naruto?" Lucy questioned but she didn't try to pull her arm free,

"because I'm not them and you and I have a lot to talk about not just what happened over these last few days," he said and they stopped in front of his front door, once they were inside they sat on the couch silently.

Lucy was avoiding eye contact but Kakashi wasn't saying anything, finally Lucy sighed, "where do you want to begin?"

"how about how you and Itachi know each other?" Kakashi asked,

"Like I said my ANBU missions," Lucy said and Kakashi gave her a look, "my ANBU missions involve the Akatsuki," Lucy whispered,

"they what?" Kakashi shouted,

"when Lord third assigned me to ANBU it was only to take missions that involve the Akatsuki, I am not involved in the ANBU otherwise," Lucy explained, "I can't tell you why or what I'm doing but that's how we ran into each other so often,"

"Okay and what about Sasuke? What happened with him?" Kakashi asked,

"hold on before I tell you that, I think you owe me an explanation now," Lucy said,

"excuse me?" Kakashi asked her,

"the Chidori Kakashi," Lucy said, "how could you teach a revenge ridden boy an assassination technique?" Lucy asked Kakashi and he looked away, "well?"

"it was to show him that he didn't have to leave the village in order to gain power," Kakashi tried to defend,

"then why not show him a different high ranking jutsu or work on his Sharingan with him?" Lucy asked, "why the Chidori?"

"because that's the only thing that could of broken through the sands ultimate defence," Kakashi said,

"you and I both know that Sasuke was not ready to be a Chunin so him losing that match would make no difference," Lucy lectured but sighed, "oh well what's done is done," she grumbled, "now about what happened with Sasuke," Lucy said and Kakashi sat up a bit straighter.

Lucy told him about how she saw him right before he left the village and what she said to him, then about how she went to take a mission on her own because she was upset. Lucy also explained that Loke was the one to convince her to go and heal the team that went after Sasuke and then later on told her that it was the Genin that went after him so she rushed what she was doing.

"and that's what happened," Lucy said and looked down,

"you implied that you killed you're sensei because he joined Orochimaru?" Kakashi questioned her in disbelief, that did not sound like Lucy at all,

"I know I shouldn't have done it but even after telling Sasuke about what Orochimaru did to me, hell I even showed him some it and he still left with him," Lucy said, "I was upset and I just started speaking, I didn't even realise what I said until I was already walking away."

Kakashi dragged a hand down his face, "so what are you going to do now?"

"first I need to tell Tsunade," Lucy whispered, "then I need to figure out how to tell Naruto and Sakura,"

"are you going to help them go after Sasuke?" Kakashi asked her,

"I won't stop them, but I don't think I can be directly involved," Lucy said, "he joined my torturer Kakashi,"

"I understand Lucy, but I don't think Naruto or Sakura will," he said to her,

"I know, but I can't keep it from them,"

"maybe if you told them about Orochimaru, what he did to you then they might understand, or at least Naruto will," Kakashi suggested but Lucy shook her head no,

"that'll just be me making excuses," she said, "I need to take responsibility for what I did."

Kakashi looked at her worried, he knew that Naruto and Sakura wouldn't take it well and didn't want Lucy to have to deal with their anger and blame.


	26. Chapter 26

Lucy was inside the Hokages office with a tipsy Tsunade glaring holes through her head, "would you mind explaining to me why you thought that you could take an ANBU mission, unauthorised, while I strictly put you one bed rest for the rest of the week?" Tsunade thundered out at her, Shizune flinched besides her but otherwise didn't say anything and she lightly squeezed Tonton.

"I needed to leave the village for a few hours," Lucy simply stated, "I felt like I was going to destroy something and I needed to get out of the village before I did that,"

"why did you need to leave, how did you know I sent Genin after Sasuke and how did you know that Sasuke even left in the first place?" Tsunade asked,

"to explain properly I need to explain how I got to the village in the first place," Lucy said and Shizune was about to say something but Tsunade stopped her,

"you better get to the point quickly," Tsunade snapped,

"I was a someone that Orochimaru once experimented on," Lucy said, Shizune gasped and Tsunade frowned, "I was in one of his hideouts for 11 months before Anko and Yamato got me out of there. It wasn't long before Inoichi was going through my memories of that place, I'm sure that they're on file if you want to know specifics. Anyway, I'm sure you've heard about what happened between Naruto and Sasuke on top of the hospital a few days ago," when Tsunade nodded Lucy continued, "After that I told Sasuke what happened with Orochimaru, I even showed him how I got captured." Lucy looked down slightly at what she said next.

"I told Sasuke that if he were to join Orochimaru I would never forgive him and I may have implied that I would kill him if I had to," Tsunade's eyes widened at this and Shizune looked shocked,

"would you?" Tsunade asked Lucy and she looked up at the Hokage, "kill him I mean," Lucy took a deep breath,

"if he attacks anyone from the leaf or the leaf itself I won't hold back," Lucy finally said, Tsunade nodded her head slowly, "last night I saw Sasuke as he was leaving the village, after he spoke with Sakura," Lucy sighed, "I let my feelings get the better of me and I threatened him, I told him that I wouldn't stop him because he had already chosen his path, after a few more words were exchanged I came here to get a mission and I left," Lucy explained,

"okay so that explains how you knew that he left, now how did you know that I sent Genin after him?" Tsunade questioned, ignoring for the moment that she let someone betray they village,

"have I ever told you about my spirits?" Lucy asked and bought out her celestial spirit keys. Once Lucy finished explaining how she knew about the Genin Tsunade ran a hand down her face,

"you do realise that you let a valuable member of the village just walk out?" Tsunade groaned, "that boys eyes are valuable not to mention dangerous,"

"then aren't we lucky that he's just a Genin and doesn't know anything valuable," Lucy said sheepishly but looked down when Tsunade frowned at her, "Look I know I should of tried harder to keep him here but the only thing left to do was lock him in a jail cell and that would just make him have a personal issue with the leaf," Lucy tried to explain,

"that doesn't explain why you didn't notify anyone when he did leave," Tsunade scolded,

"look I know, I was just so angry. Sasuke chose to power that he didn't have to work for and my torturer over the bond we used to have," Lucy yelled out, "I'm so sick and tired of not knowing who I can trust," she looked down. Tsunade sighed,

"as punishment you will be on call at the hospital for one month and have to complete 15 d-rank missions," Tsunade said, both Shizune and Lucy looked shocked but instead of questioning it Lucy bowed and walked out.

"Milady, are you sure that's a severe enough punishment? She technically committed treason," Shizune question,

"I'm sure, did you see the notes she made on Lee's condition? I couldn't of done it better myself," then Tsunade let a feral sort of grin take over her features, "not to mention how she handled those elders when I first took over, always left the old bags speechless," Tsunade laughed, "I have plans for that girl and to do that I need her to have full access to everything in the village."

Lucy was outside of the room Naruto was staying in, she just couldn't bring herself to knock on the door. "Lucy, what are you doing outside?" Lucy looked up and saw Sakura standing there,

"oh Sakura, I umm," Lucy stumbled,

"are you okay Lucy?" Sakura asked her worried and Lucy looked away, "is this about Sasuke leaving?" Lucy flinched, "don't worry Lucy, we'll bring him back and everything will be okay," Sakura said and put a hand on Lucy's shoulder before reaching to open the door to Naruto's room,

"actually Sakura, it is about Sasuke leaving but not in the way you think," Lucy said and Sakura looked back at Lucy confused, "I really need to talk you and Naruto," with that Lucy opened the door to Naruto's room and saw him talking to Shikamaru, "Shikamaru, could I have a minute with Naruto and Sakura?" Once Shikamaru left and closed the door Lucy took a deep breath in and told them about the conversation that she had with Sasuke the night before.

"how could you?" Sakura screamed out at her, Naruto kept silent but didn't look at her, "how could you let him go?" Sakura started crying, "after everything you've ever said to us, preaching about protecting us but you let Orochimaru take Sasuke," Sakura screeched. Lucy was getting a bit angry at Sakura but tried to remain calm because she did in fact let Sasuke leave, Naruto still didn't say anything. "aren't you going to say anything Naruto?" Sakura demanded, "its because of her that Sasuke isn't here and it's because of her that people got hurt, Choji and Neji are in critical condition," she continued,

"why?" Naruto whispered and looked up at Lucy, "this isn't making sense, it's not like you, so why?" Naruto asked her,

"who cares about why?" Sakura screeched,

"Lucy, I want to know why," Naruto demanded,

"I'm not listening to anymore of this," Sakura said and left in tears,

"Lucy," Naruto shouted,

"Orochimaru tortured me and Sasuke knew," Lucy yelled and then put her hand over her mouth in shock,

"what?" Naruto whispered and Lucy sighed,

"it was before I came to the village," Lucy started and explained everything to Naruto,

"and Sasuke knew all of this?" he asked her,

"yeah I told him most of it when I pulled him aside after you two had that fight on the hospital roof," Lucy confirmed, "I was just so mad and upset with him that I didn't really stop to think about anything,"

"I can understand that," Naruto whispered, "don't get me wrong I think you could have done more if you wanted to but you didn't want to," Naruto said to her and Lucy looked down at her feet, "it's okay not to want to Lucy,"

"what do you mean?"

"well do you think it's okay for me to still go after Sasuke?"

"of course I do, I know how much he means to you," Lucy whispered,

"and I know how hard it was for you when you first came to the village," Naruto told her and Lucy looked at him shocked, "you think I didn't notice that most of the smiles were fake? Or how often you got lost in thought only to look ready to fight once you snapped out of it? Or how you flinched when anyone besides Kakashi-sensei would touch you?" Naruto took a deep breath, "I knew, I just never asked, I figured you would tell me when you were ready," Lucy looked down and tried to keep her tears at bay, "so it's okay if you don't want to help me find Sasuke," Lucy suddenly looked up and smirked at him,

"since when did you get so smart?"

"what's that supposed to mean?" Naruto shouted and Lucy's laugh resounded off of the walls throughout the hospital room.

 **Fairytail's POV**

"Okay, so we've established that only Lucy can use the key, that she might be able to make a connection from her side with it and that the Celestial Spirit King probably sent her there," Levy said to herself listing things off in her head and she looked over the information that they all had gathered.

"yes but we've reached another dead end," Yukino muttered as she flipped through another book dejectedly.

"I'm getting tired of not getting anywhere," Nastu suddenly shouted, "why can't old Stash face just tell us where she is and how to get there," he continued, stomping around the guild hall.

Yukino looked down, "I'm sorry, if only I could convince them that it's the right thing to do," she whispered,

"it's not your fault Yukino," Sting said,

"the celestial spirit king seems to have everyone on lock down for this," Rogue said, "no one can get anything out of him,"

"I'm sure Lucy could," Yukino said, "she's always able to convince him somehow,"

"My descendant does seem to have some sway in the spirit realm for some reason," Anna said and sighed, "no human has ever had such an impact,"

"I say we storm into the spirit realm and demand answers," Gajeel growled as he popped up from behind the bar, half way through devouring a spoon,

"stop eating the silverware Gajeel," Mira said sweetly before looking down at him with her blue eyes, "please," she added, her tone left no room for argument. Gajeel not wanting to admit that he was scared casually jumped over the bar top and made his way to Levy, who giggle teasingly at him.

"the only problem with that is that we can't without the help of a spirit," Anna said,

"and none of them seem to be willing to help us," Erza stated,

"so then, how are we going to find out what's going on?" Wendy asked, "if it really was the Spirit King that sent Lucy to wherever she is, then why wouldn't he send all of us so we could help her?"

"if only we could speak to him, we might be able to convince him," Lisanna said down heartedly,

"open gate of bear cub, Polaris," Yukino called out suddenly,

"Miss Yukino," a giant pink bear showed up in the middle of the guild,

"Polaris, I want to see his majesty the Spirit King," Yukino asked him uncertainly,

"I cannot take you there Miss Yukino" Polaris said,

"Polaris, my name is Anna Heartfilia and as a family member of Lucy, I demand to know if she is safe," Anna said firmly, "I know the celestial laws, as a blood relative I have a right to know and if you won't tell me, it is your obligation to take me to someone who will," Polaris didn't say anything but Yukino could tell that he was panicking,

"Please Polaris, take us to see the Spirit King," Yukino pleaded.

 **Time Skip**

"Human friends, for what reason have you demanded my presence?" the Spirit King said as he stood over several members of the Fairytail guild and the three from Sabretooth,

"you know exactly why we are here, where is Lucy?" Erza demanded,

"yeah Stash face, tell us where she is," Natsu yelled out,

"I'm afraid that my old friend is needed where she is and should not be interrupted," the Spirit King,

"why not? Surely you don't like seeing Lucy suffer," Wendy called out,

"It pains me to see my old friend in distress and missing her friends but I had to send her there," the Spirit King said loudly, his voice representing the power he clearly had,

"if it pains you then why not tell her everything? If not us then why not Lucy?" Erza questioned,

"because if I told her then the future might not end up balanced," the King said simply,

"what do you mean?" Wendy spoke up,

"my old friend is essential to the future conflicts of the world she currently resides, she plays a key role in keeping the peace,"

"that doesn't explain why you can't tell her," Mira shouted,

"as you already know the Heartfilia's are not originally from Earth Land, in fact their original clan if from the world that she currently resides, Earth," the King starts, "when the civil war started within the clan, they didn't know that word would get out to another rivalling clan that was experimenting with their own sort of spells, they called them jutsu,"

"wait like a ninja?" Natsu suddenly shouted, "no way Lucy is a descendant from ninja, so cool,"

"she's not just a descendant from ninja, she is one," the King said, "quite a powerful one,"

"no fair, I want to be a ninja," Natsu complained,

"the rivalling clan attacked the Heartfilia's, but since the civil war had just occurred they couldn't defend themselves and were almost completely wiped out. They asked for my help and I told them how to create a key that would teleport them somewhere safe,"

"Fiore," Gray whispered,

"yes," the king said, "but there was a catch, the key could only send one. The woman they ended up sending was Anna's great-great grandmother, who happened to be pregnant," the king finished,

"who trained the Fiore family to use celestial keys and then trained others," Anna continued on, "keeping the keys split up so nothing like what happened on Earth could happen here,"

"okay so Lucy's ancestors are originally from Earth but that still doesn't explain why you sent her there," Sting shouted,

"the Heartfilia's rivalling clan is planning something and in order to created balance I needed to send my old friend to Earth, it's essential to that world's survival," the King stressed,

"then why not tell her?" Yukino asked,

"because my old friend, needs to want to save that world, with everything in her,"

"so you made her a part of that world, letting her care about the people and their ways," Gray figured out,

"because if she knew that there was a way back she wouldn't connect to the people that are there," Erza also figured out,

"yes,"

"why go to such extremes, you know Lucy would help if she had to," Gray said,

"because this upcoming war that my old friend will be a part of will require great sacrifice in order to save Earth," the King said,

"then let us help her," Rogue surprisingly spoke up,

"even if I wanted you to, I could not teleport you all to where she is," the King said,

"then teleport one of us, at least so we can tell her everything we've found out," Yukino said,

"if I did you would not be able to stay there for long because you're not from there, Lucy is the only one who could live there permanently," the King said,

"what about me? Couldn't I stay there?" Anna asked,

"unfortunately not, because of your encounter with the eclipse gate, you wouldn't be able handle the strain of getting used to a new world," the King said and Lucy looked down.

"Is there a way to go there for a short time and come back, kind of like how Lucy and Yukino summon spirits to Earth Land?" Rogue asked, the Celestial Spirit King didn't say anything,

"after everything Lucy has done for you, don't you think you owe her answers?" Gray suddenly shouted,

"I agree," a voice said from behind them and everyone turned around to see Loke,

"Loke," Gray and Natsu shouted,

"Nice to see you man, where you been?" Gray continued and pat Loke on the back,

"sorry that I haven't been able to see all of you, I was ordered not to," Loke said,

"don't worry we get it," Gray said, Loke smiled and then turned to face the Celestial King,

"Lucy is still looking for a way back and she's not going to stop and focus on the world that she's in unless she knows why's she's there," Loke reasoned, "I've had to watch her go through things that she never should have to, watched her change and grow and have her freak out because of it," Loke clenched his fists tight, "she needs to know that she's there for a reason and that there is a way back," Loke pleaded,

"what has she gone through?" Natsu asked quietly,

"a lot, too much to explain now," Loke whispered, knowing Natsu would hear him, "after everything, you have to help her,"

"anyone of you would only last a few years at most," the King said,

"Send me," Rogue spoke up,

"what, no way," Natsu shouted, "I'm going,"

"didn't you say you had something you needed to find for her?" Rogue asked, "don't you want to give it to her when you see her next?" Natsu looked down at this, "I'll go, I can sustain myself with shadows until you can bring me back. In the meantime I can tell Lucy everything we know and bring back everything she knows," Rogue reasoned,

"well, he does seem like the best one to go," Loke spoke up, "he can adapt, he won't say anything unnecessary and he won't burn down a building and get Lucy into trouble,"

"hey," Natsu yelled out,

"fine I will grant this, you have 3 years until you're body can no longer take the strain, use your time wisely," the King said and with that all of them were transported back to the guild besides for Rogue.

 **Fairytail's POV End**

A few days later, Lucy looked up at Jiraiya, "so you think you can loosen this seal I have?" she asked him, "I mean it's been there for years and I've never even felt it,"

"and you wouldn't because you had never felt chakra until a little while later, so this would be the norm for you," Jiraiya explained to her, "and yes I think I can," he continued as he set up a sealing circle, "but first I need to find the seal so start stripping," he announced and clapped his hands together. Lucy recoiled in disgust, "come on, I'm not that bad," Jiraiya complained sulkily,

"I think I would be more comfortable with Kakashi looking for them instead," Lucy said and Jiraiya hunched over dramatically as Lucy walked towards the door of the private hospital room to go and find Kakashi.

Lucy finally found him in a tree reading his disgusting book that she later found out Jiraiya wrote, "yo, you and Jiraiya finished already?"

"ahh actually we've hit a snag, or well I've hit a snag," Lucy said,

"what do you mean?" Kakashi looked up from his book,

"well, Jiraiya said that he needs to find the seal," Lucy started and started to fidget,

"yeah and?"

"well, I was wondering if you would find it instead?" Lucy wondered, Kakashi looked at her incredulously, "what you think I want that pervert to look for it?" she questioned,

"I thought I was also a pervert," Kakashi teased her,

"that's different, you don't go around peeping on girls in the hot springs, you just read porn in public," Lucy pointed out, "please Kakashi, I wouldn't be asking if I was okay with someone else doing it,"

"why don't you ask Shizune?" Kakashi wondered,

"will or won't you do it?" Lucy ignored his other question,

"sure if you want but you do realise that it would be no different if Jiraiya or Shizune checked," Kakashi said and jumped out of the tree and landed in front of her,

"it is different, I don't share a toilet with either of them," Lucy said and turned on her heal to lead him back to her private hospital room. Kakashi rolled his one visible eye and reluctantly followed her back to the hospital.

Once there Kakashi asked Lucy to turn around and he pulled up his forehead protector to reveal the Sharingan, he scanned her back, looking for abnormalities, "I'm just going to pull up your shirt," Kakashi informed her and pulled her shirt over her shoulders and started scanning her bare back. When he didn't find anything he pulled her shirt back down, "can you take off your tights so I can look at your legs?" Kakashi asked and Lucy turned around and sat on the hospital bed and started to take off her leggings, "so, what exactly do you look like anyway?" Kakashi asked her,

"well, an older version of this," Lucy said and pulled her tights off of her feet,

"well yeah I know that but how tall are you? Is your hair long? That type of stuff," Kakashi asked as he examined her legs,

"do you want me to transform into my natural form? I mean I don't know what I would look like as a 23 year old but I can transform as a 19 year old," Lucy suggested as Kakashi moved onto her left leg,

"I think I found the seal, it looks like it's behind your left knee and you don't have too I mean I'm going to see it eventually anyway," Kakashi said and called Jiraiya back inside, "her seal is difficult to see, I can barely see it with the Sharingan,"

"can you trace over it for me then?" Jiraiya asked, "I need to be able to see which seal it was in order to remove it without any side effects,"

"side effects?" Lucy asked worriedly,

"don't worry Lucy, you heard him, as long as he knows which seals were used he can reverse it no problem," Kakashi assured her as he grabbed a marker and started to draw the seals that were behind her knee,

"but what if you can't see all of the seal and miss something?" Lucy asked and Kakashi stood up again, "what if I come out of this with a tail or frogs legs or something," Lucy freaked out,

"come on, have a little faith," Jiraiya said kind of disheartened,

"in the one that turned Kakashi into a pervert? I don't think so," Lucy said still freaking out,

"hey, I'm not a pervert, it's the plot I like the plot," Kakashi insisted,

"yeah right, I've heard you laugh perversely at that book when you think I'm not listening," Lucy insisted and crossed her arms,

"it wasn't perversely, it was because it was funny," Kakashi defended,

"yeah right," Lucy scoffed at him,

"okay, that's enough you two," Jiraiya cut in, "do you want me to get that seal off or not?" he rhetorically asked,

"please," Lucy said but then worriedly added, "and if a tail pops up can you at least make it so it matches my hair," Lucy ran a hand through her hair and Kakashi rolled his eyes,

"welp that's my cue to leave," Kakashi said and walked out of the room,

"okay, I'm sure you know how the basics of seals work and these looks like they need to be taken off all at once," Jiraiya explained and Lucy groaned as she sat in the middle of the room and Jiraiya started to get to work on a sealing circle.

Lucy was walking through the town with Kakashi after Jiraiya was able to take off the seals that were placed on her, "so do you feel any different?" Kakashi asked her lazily,

"not really, Jiraiya said that it would be gradual and would happen mostly while I'm asleep," Lucy explained, "I've got a bunch of D rank missions that I have to do," Lucy groaned out and started to walk towards the first one on the list,

"okay, have fun," Kakashi teased and teleported home. Lucy grumbled as she dragged herself to do chores that she wasn't allowed to outsource to Haku.

 **Time Skip**

"Rogue?" Lucy stuttered out in surprise, Rogue looked up to see a younger version of the celestial mage that had gone missing all those years ago,

"Miss Lucy?" he whispered, "you're a lot younger than I was expecting you to be," he said, mostly just him thinking out loud though,

"Fro thinks so too," a small voice called out from behind Rogue and Lucy looked to see the little exceed in the frog costume standing there,

"yeah, it's a long story, I'll explain later," Lucy said and rubbed the back of her head, "How did you get here?"

"I'm not too sure, one second I was arguing with the Spirit King and the next I'm here," Rogue shrugged,

"wait, why were you arguing with Stash face?" Lucy asked,

"none of your spirits told you?" Rogue questioned her but looked slightly concerned,

"told me what?"

"Lucy, the Spirit King is the one that sent you here," Rogue said softly and Lucy's breath caught her throat,

"w-what?" she whispered and tears started to crowd in her eyes and her breath started to get heavy. A golden flash was shown out of the corner of her eyes and Loke was suddenly in front of her, "you knew?" she whispered and Loke could only open and close him mouth several times. "you knew," Lucy yelled and it startled Frosch so rogue picked her up, "do the others know?" she questioned him and he looked away, "I want to hear it Leo," Lucy demanded and Loke flinched at the use of his given name coming from her mouth,

"the others knew," he whispered, Lucy looked down and pulled out Loke's key,

"force gate closure," she said forcefully,

"Princess wait" Loke called as he got pushed back into the spirit realm. Lucy pulled her other keys out and pushed magic into her hand as several of then started to glow,

"force gate closure," she yelled and the glowing of the keys slowly died down and she finally let the tears flow down her face. "Come on Rogue, you can stay with me and my roommate for the night and we'll sort everything else out tomorrow," Lucy said and started walking back into the village, her keys clenched tightly in her hands. Rogue silently followed behind her and decided to leave all of his questions for later.

When Lucy walked into her and Kakashi's place Kakashi came out to greet her, "welcome back," he said but stopped short when he saw her crying, "what happened? Who's that?" he questioned and was startled when Lucy threw her keys at him. Kakashi caught them quickly before they could hit the floor, "wow, what's going on?" he asked,

"just keep them away from me," Lucy cried out,

"maybe I should explain," Rogue said and stepped forward. Lucy nodded her head yes, grabbed Frosch from him and made her way up the stairs to her room. "My names Rogue Cheney and I come from where Lucy comes from," Rogue started, Kakashi looked surprised but motioned him to continue, "I don't know how much Lucy has told you but I think I should tell you the reason why Lucy is so upset first."

Kakashi listened intently and then looked down and the key ring in his hands with surprise, "but they've been helping her try to find a way back, are you saying they've just been feeding her false hope?" Rogue honestly looked confused,

"I have no idea, it seems very likely but I don't understand," Rogue said,

"don't understand what exactly?" Kakashi asked him while stuffing Lucy's keys into his ninja pouch,

"why they would do this, they all love Lucy and I know that the Celestial Spirit King admires her," Rogue wondered out loud, "Lucy has done a lot for her spirits and vice versa, why wouldn't they just tell her,"

"I'm still confused, Lucy told me some things about her magic type and from what I understand there's a lot of laws to follow, she said there was a privacy law in place and that was probably why they wouldn't just contact a Miss Yukino, I think Lucy said her name was," Kakashi told him,

"Yukino is my guild mate and someone that admires Lucy greatly. While that is true, if Lucy was ever in danger her spirits would be allowed to do something about it, it's against the law to put your summoner in danger and that trumps the privacy law," Rogue said with his eyebrows still furrowed, "none of this makes any sense I mean not if they haven't told Lucy,"

"haven't told her what?" Kakashi asked,

"now that is something I should probably explain to Lucy as well," Rogue said and Kakashi looked towards the stairs where Lucy went,

"Maybe you should give me a minute with her first," Kakashi said and started to make his way up the stairs, "oh and I'm Kakashi Hatake by the way," he called out lazily over his shoulder as he continued to walk.

Kakashi knocked on Lucy's door, "Lucy can I come in?" he asked her,

"are you going to convince me to talk to them?" he heard Lucy's muffled voice,

"not if you don't want to,"

"Then you can come in," she said and he opened her door to see her laying down on her bed and Frosch patting her cheek in sympathy,

"can I talk her in private please," Kakashi trailed off and Frosch looked up at him confused, Lucy lifted herself up into a sitting position,

"this is Frosch, she's an exceed, a cat like creature from Edolas, I'll explain the rest later," Lucy said, "Frosch do you want to go find Rogue?" Lucy asked her and Fro nodded her head, "okay," Lucy lifted her up and walked towards the door, "you see those stairs just walk down them and call for him," she said and set Fro down. When Frosch started to slowly make her way down the stairs Lucy walked back into her room and closed the door. Walking back to her bed she sat down and gestured for Kakashi to do the same.

"First I put your keys in my ninja pouch and if you still don't want them by the end of this I'll put them somewhere safe until you do," Kakashi said and Lucy nodded, even though she was mad and hurt she still wanted to know they were okay, that's why she gave them to Kakashi. "Next, Rogue told me what he said to you and I know you feel hurt but don't you want to talk to them?" Kakashi asked her,

"talk? You think I want to talk?" Lucy questioned and took a deep breath so she didn't start yelling, "you know what would've been nice to know? That all of the leads I've ever had on getting home have most likely no chance of working, that they never did and the ones that I have trusted the most knew that and have known more about all of this, than I have the entire time, that I was deliberately put here by someone whom I have risked my life for before," Lucy ranted as she started pacing her room, "that they've all been lying to me and giving me false hope instead of helping do whatever it is they want me to do so I can leave?" she shouted, Kakashi sighed and ran a hand through his hair,

"okay so I'll take that as a no," he whispered to himself, "look Lucy, Rogue has some information that he can tell you about why you are here, if you don't want to talk to your summons maybe talking to him will help," Kakashi put a hand on Lucy's shoulder to stop her from pacing, "I know you feel really betrayed right now but maybe Rogue has some answers for you,"

"yeah, I know, it's just a lot has happened in such a short time," Lucy said and took a deep breath in, "let's go back down stairs," Lucy said and grabbed onto Kakashi's hand to drag him down the stairs. Walking into the living room Lucy saw Rogue holding Frosch, "I don't want to sound rude Rogue, but what exactly do you know?" Lucy asked firmly and Rogue was surprised at how she sounded,

"well not too long ago Levy got a lead as to where you might be, in the cave you disappeared in there were markings all over the walls, well some of those markings were actually stars, constellations to be exact and they were different to the ones on Earthland," Rogue started,

"different?" Lucy questioned,

"they were in the wrong order," Rogue said, "Anyway, Levy asked Yukino for some help when she figured out that they were constellations,"

"and Levy figured out that I was in a different world because of that," Lucy figured out and turned to Kakashi, "during the Edolas incident, the constellations there were also different,"

"there's also something else," Rogue started, "Yukino, Sting, Natsu and myself were going to different celestial wizard temples and basically any place with any information on celestial wizards and we found a way that we might be able to bring you back to Earthland,"

"really?" Lucy shouted excitedly,

"wait, hold on," Kakashi spoke up and Lucy turned to him,

"what is it?" Lucy asked impatiently,

"this way back, is it safe?" Kakashi asked,

"should be the same as getting here," Rogue said, "anyway there's a catch," Lucy waited, "you need all 12 zodiac keys," Rogue said and Lucy's face fell,

"but they won't even let Yukino and I speak to one another let alone transport keys," Lucy said down heartedly,

"Anna told us somethings that you might also want to know," Rogue said and started explaining everything.

"Wait, my ancestors are from here? As in Earth here?" Lucy interrupted Rogue,

"well that makes sense," Kakashi mumbles,

"that means my dojutsu could actually be a kekkei genkai," Lucy figured out,

"Dojutsu? Kekkei Genkai?" Rogue asked,

"oh a dojutsu is a unique eye ability, mine looks like this," Lucy activated her eyes and Rogue marvelled at the golden, starry eyes that were staring back at him. "A Kekkei Genkai also known as a bloodline limit is a hereditary skill, only those from that bloodline can inherit or activate them, there are many different types of kekkei genkai dojutsu is just one of the possibilities," Lucy explained and de-activated her eyes,

"all of them are extremely powerful though," Kakashi added,

"when used right that is," Lucy said, "I haven't explored the limitations of mine as of yet so I don't know everything about them,"

"they are extremely useful in healing though," Kakashi pointed out,

"that's true," Lucy said,

"wait, you can heal people now?" Rogue asked,

"yeah, a lot has happened," Lucy said, "I'll fill you in when we get everything sorted out," Lucy walked over to the couch and sat on it, "you'll need to come with me to the Hokage's office tomorrow so we can sort out your stay in the village, for now I'll sleep on the couch and you can stay in my room."

 **Time skip**

Lucy was walking towards Tsunade's office with Rogue in tow, Frosch was on his head looking around the village and pointing things out. Everyone who knew her was looking at Rogue and Frosch weirdly but no one said anything. Arriving at Tsunade's office Lucy didn't even knock on the door before she walked in, she saw Tsunade sleeping at her desk with slight drool dripping down her face. Lucy sighed before motioning to Rogue to sit down before she walking behind Tsunade's desk and looked over the papers she was signing, to see that it was just settling some formalities with Genin teams.

Taking the papers she walked around the desk to sit beside Rogue and start signing them, by the time Lucy finished the small pile Tsunade was starting to wake up and immediately sat up straighter and the sight of Lucy straightening out papers and a black haired man of about 23 years old she had never met.

"Lucy what's going on, who's this?" Tsunade wondered and wiped the drool that had gathered at her chin, pretending that it was never there,

"This is Rogue Cheney, he's an old acquaintance," Lucy said,

"How old?" Tsunade wondered,

"before the village old," Tsunade's eyebrows lifted slightly and lightly massaged her head, "have you by any chance read my file?" Lucy asked, hopeful that she didn't have to explain all of this yet again,

"yes I have," and Lucy sighed in relief,

"good this will make things easier, Rogue is from a guild called Sabretooth and got here through the Celestial Spirit realm by the Celestial Spirit King because apparently he can do that whenever he wants to," Lucy said snidely and Tsunade just looked tired,

"so you're telling me, that he comes from the world you come from and he's stuck here with you because the leader of your summons sent him here but won't send either of you back?" Tsunade rhetorically asked,

"in a nutshell," Lucy shrugged, "Rogue is a shadow dragon slayer, dragon slayers have naturally heightened senses and magical abilities," Lucy started, "you won't have to do a thing, just give him a forehead protector and assign him to my team and I'll give him a rundown of how things around here work," Lucy said,

"as long as you promise I don't have to do anything else," Tsunade said and opened a draw in her desk, pulled out a forehead protector and threw it at Lucy, "come back tomorrow for a profile photo but in the meantime fill this out," and slapped down a small pile of papers on her desk. Lucy sheepishly gathered them up and ushered Rogue out of Tsunade's office.

"Okay, let's go back home and fill these out, Kakashi's on a mission at the moment and will be back later. I also have a small mission to do today so you can come along and maybe get to know some people around town," Lucy said, "I'll answer your questions while we fill out these papers and I'll tell you what you can and cannot say to certain people." Lucy said and Rogue followed her back to Kakashi's house, taking notice that she called it home.

 **Time Skip**

Lucy stood in front of Naruto and Jiraiya as they were saying goodbye to everyone. Naruto was saying goodbye to the rest of the rookies, Jiraiya was saying goodbye to a couple of the Jonin and Tsunade. Naturally Jiraiya finished first and came to stand next to her, "you sure you don't want to come with us?" Jiraiya asked, "you could study sealing techniques all you want,"

"don't worry, I'll come join you two soon but for now there are things that Tsunade and I have to discuss," Lucy said,

"like what?"

"too many things, one of them being implementing first aid into the academy curriculum and changing kunoichi lessens slightly and add a political class to them. Things like that," Lucy answered vaguely,

"you sure got your work cut out for you," Jiraiya said to her and Lucy nodded as Naruto bounced up to her,

"Lucy," he threw his arms around her, "I'm going to miss you," he said to her,

"I'm going to miss you too but don't worry, you'll be seeing me soon enough," she reassured him,

"don't worry Lucy, when I get back I'll be stronger and I'll drag Sasuke back here to apologise to you," he said for everyone to hear, Sakura huffed in the background and turned away but Lucy smiled gently at him,

"even if you did drag him back here, have you ever heard Sasuke apologise before?" she said lightly,

"you're different Lucy, he'll say it to you,"

"I wouldn't be so sure Naruto but I guess we'll wait and see," she said and leaned up to hug him again, "don't let Sasuke consume you're training, remember you have your own dreams to," she whispered,

"I know but Sasuke is top priority," he whispered and she sighed but nodded once they pulled back. Lucy turned and nodded to Jiraiya and then they were off and Lucy was watching after their backs for a minute before Haku came up to her and put a hand on her shoulder,

"come on Lucy, didn't you want to draw up a draft of some plans for Tsunade today?" he gently prodded her and Lucy turned around to face him and saw Rogue standing behind him with Frosch on his shoulder.

"Yes I did but before that I wanted to introduce you to our new teammate," Lucy said and gestured to Rogue, "Haku this is Rogue, I knew him before I came to the village. Rogue this is Haku, he's knew to the village, just arrived over a month ago and I've been keeping an eye on him," they both nodded to one another and she sweat dropped lightly. Lucy had a feeling her new team was going to be quiet considering neither one seemed to be jumping at the opportunity to get to know one another.

Somewhere in Orochimaru's hideout Sasuke was demanding that he be taught something, "be patient Sasuke," Orochimaru slurred out, "I will teach you soon enough," Sasuke tsked loudly,

"there's something else I want to know," Sasuke said darkly and Orochimaru looked at him, "Lucy, you experimented on her," he snarled out.

Orochimaru chuckled, "yes, but do you want to know why?" when Sasuke said nothing Orochimaru continued, "she's not from this world," Sasuke looked shocked but still kept quiet, "her body is naturally stronger than ours, she uses a different type of chakra, one more powerful than regular chakra. I wanted to know her limits," Orochimaru said, "it appears though that the other type of chakra only appears when she wants it to, so when I was done testing her physically I let her go, those leaf ninja took her back to the leaf and Lucy slowly started to use her abilities more and more."

"how did she get here?" Sasuke questioned and Orochimaru pulled out a rusted key,

"I'm almost certain that this is why," he said and put the key back in his pocket, Orochimaru walked away with Sasuke watching after him.


	27. Chapter 27

Lucy was walking through the village with her hands behind her back, her hair pulled into a loose plait with some of her hair left out to frame her face. Lucy sometimes received weird looks from the villagers still because of her growth that seemingly happened out of nowhere; however, most of the Jonin have been told about the seal that Orochimaru placed on her and knows her real age. Currently Lucy looked to be about 20 years old and her hair went down to her waist, her chakra had increased exponentially and she no longer got tired when doing high ranking ninjutsu, she still couldn't cast genjustu but she has figured out a way to combine her star dress abilities and ninjutsu like it was second nature.

"Lucy, you're back from your mission," Teuchi shouted from inside of his ramen stand,

"Yeah, I got back a couple of hours ago, you haven't seen Kakashi anywhere have you?" Lucy asked but only received an apology in return, "thanks anyway," Lucy sighed and continued walking through the village, "maybe I should go and see Iruka," Lucy wondered out loud and started to make her way to the academy.

During the first year that Naruto had left to go and train Lucy had worked with Tsunade and Iruka to try and get first aid implemented into the academy, unfortunately there were not many who knew medical ninjutsu enough or had enough time in order to teach it. Lucy had suggested that they teach things like medical herbs and basic skills such as wrapping and cleaning wounds. Again they had the same issue but when Lucy said that she would be willing to teach genin or chunin everything that Tsunade taught her and if Tsunade took on a couple of apprentices then they would be able to add the class into the curriculum come next academy year and have it be taught to the first years. Shizune had asked about the later classes, "what about them? They have no first aid knowledge,"

"Gemini or myself could take one member from each graduating team a week to teach them, there are 3 in a genin squad, which means that one member from each team could learn basic first aid skills at least and if they want to continue with their studies they could be an apprentice at the hospital, they're always looking for people to take on shifts," Lucy explained, "so if myself and Tsunade take on an apprentice or two, they could teach academy students for a year and then take on an apprentice for themselves so that they can teach academy students, I know that Haku would rather not be an active ninja anyway and I've got too much to do to be on active duty much," Lucy explained, and with that, they were able to implement an extra class into the academy curriculum.

Lucy also wanted to bring up the issue she had with the kunoichi classes, "what exactly is the issue with them?" Tsunade asked her,

"look I'm all for using what you got to get what you want and I'm not saying that we shouldn't be teaching girls etiquettes but we shouldn't be teaching them these things and not teaching them how to defend themselves, those classes take place at the same time the boys start to learn taijutsu. We are putting girls at a disadvantage, I mean the girls aren't allowed to put what they learn into use when they spar with the boys, yet the boys get to use everything they are learning when they spar with the girls," Lucy presented only one of the things she saw wrong with the academy kunoichi classes.

"well then how would you fix these issues," Tsunade questioned, knowing that there was more to it then what Lucy was letting on,

"I would like to suggest that we add Tai Chi into Kunoichi classes," Lucy suggested first, "it's a gentle and elegant style of fighting and it can double up as an exotic dance, it focuses mostly on using your opponents strengths against them and dodging. It would be great for undercover missions and such," Lucy suggested, "also, senbon needle throwing could also be implemented considering they can be disguised as hair pins," Tsunade and Shizune looked to each other, not sure as to how Lucy was going to get the council on board with this, it was a genius idea but with the way those old crones think it will be hard to change their minds. "Look, I'm incredibly against the sexism that goes on in the academy, who are they to tell girls to arrange flowers and flutter their eyelashes in order to get information yet tell the boys to sneak in and steal it but until there's time where the world needs boys to be able to dance we should be teaching the girls how to use their feminine whiles in a fight. A brutal fight, that will end in the others death not theirs." Lucy stated passionately,

"and how exactly do you plan to convince the elders to change these classes?" Tsunade asked her,

"leave that to me," was all Lucy said and with that she turned and walked out of the Hokages office.

Lucy sighed thinking back to that time, the council was easily silenced but Lucy knew the power she held over them wouldn't last forever and that she needed to implement change throughout the village before it happened. A golden glow appeared before Loke was walking beside her, Lucy still had trouble accepting what had happened between them and didn't like that they still wouldn't tell her all they knew but no matter what they were still her family and she loved them. They just didn't hold her complete trust at the moment, which broke her heart but it wasn't going to stop her from doing what she needed to do.

"Leo," Lucy said formally to Loke and he looked down at the use of his given name, it saddened him that Lucy kept them at a distance but he understood that he needed to prove himself through actions and he was trying to,

"Lucy, you know that Rogue has to go back to Earth Land soon right?" he asked her with concern,

"of course I do," Lucy replied still hesitant to speak with him about anything concerning Earth Land,

"well you're going to have to speak with someone about Fairytail and soon Rogue won't be an option," Loke tried to use logic to get Lucy to speak with him about the progress she has made in getting back,

"can you tell me everything you know?" Lucy asked him and his silenced was all she needed, "Leo, I get that there are rules you have to follow; however, we made a promise to protect one another, to be there for one another and I just can't help feeling like you've been lying to me before I even got here," Lucy said sternly,

"I know but," Loke tried but Lucy cut him off,

"I've been here six years Leo, six years you've been keeping things from me, you didn't even tell me that you couldn't tell me what was going on," Lucy said, "I'm busy today, if you don't have something important to discuss with me or something else to do please go back," and with that Lucy continued on her way to the academy to see Iruka.

Lucy made it to the academy and walked through, she kept walking until she got to Iruka's class and knocked on the door. Iruka opened the door and smiled once he saw Lucy, "hey, I just got back from a mission and wanted to check in," Lucy lowered her voice so that the students inside couldn't hear her. Iruka held up a finger, went back inside the classroom and shut the door,

"alright class, something has come up that I have to take care of but continue with what you're doing and maybe later today we will do some kunai throwing," Lucy heard Iruka say and not even a second later the door to the classroom opened again and Iruka was in front of her,

"I'm pretty sure you're not allowed to do that," Lucy laughed slightly as herself and Iruka walked down the hallway and sat on a bench away from any of the classrooms,

"they'll be fine for a few minutes," Iruka waved her off, "how was your mission?" Iruka asked her with a worried expression on her face, he knew that the only time Lucy left the village was on higher ranking missions that Tsunade needed her for,

"it was okay, piece of cake actually," Lucy said honestly, she was able to meet up with Itachi and get whatever information he could give her, no hiccups.

"that's a relief," Iruka said, "not that I'm not happy to see you but shouldn't you be resting?" Iruka suddenly asked, "you work too much," Iruka added offhandedly,

"I'm fine honestly," Lucy said and waved off his concerns,

"Lucy," Lucy heard a familiar voice call from behind them and both Lucy and Iruka turned to see Kakashi walked towards them at a lazy pace,

"Kashi," Lucy said and got up to meet him half way, wrapping her arms around his mid-section loosely, Kakashi's arm came to wrap around her naturally. Even though Lucy was now physically older she didn't treat Kakashi any differently to how she did when she first met him. When the growth in Lucy started to escalate Kakashi was flustered and a little uncomfortable with the way Lucy still seemed to treat him the same but once he realised that Lucy wasn't going to treat him any differently he just let her do whatever she was comfortable with.

"how long have you been in the village," Kakashi asked her once she let him go,

"a couple of hours, you weren't at home so I took a walk and decided to see Iruka," Lucy explained and turned to Iruka who was sitting on the bench still awkwardly, when Iruka and Lucy started spending more time together Iruka got the feeling that Kakashi didn't like him.

"great, well I'm here now so let's go," Kakashi said and started to lead Lucy away,

"see you later Iruka and tell the kids that I might come and visit them later this week if they're good," Lucy waved to Iruka and turned around to join Kakashi at his pace.

"ahh yeah," Iruka sighed as he watch Lucy and Kakashi leave.

Lucy and Kakashi were walking back through the village, "so Rogues time here is almost up?" Kakashi said lazily as they continued to walk through the,

"yeah," Lucy sighed, "six months and he should be going back," Lucy said in slight disappointment, "if he stays any longer he'll get magic deficiency syndrome and that can kill mages if they're not careful," Lucy explained, "that's how my mother died," Lucy whispered even though Kakashi already knew this.

"you're upset about this," Kakashi pointed out,

"of course I am," Lucy exclaimed, "I mean Rogue is the only person that I can openly talk to about magic and have him understand completely, I mean Rogue understands how different this world is compared to our own and how difficult it is to adjust. I'm going to miss talking to him about it," Lucy said,

"so when Rogue does go back how are you going to communicate with one another?" Kakashi asked her,

"actually," Lucy perked up, "I have a couple of ideas," she started, "the first would be to do what I did with my knife and your sword, I could connect objects to one another and talk to him that way but I have no way of knowing if it'll work across different worlds, universes, dimensions, whatever you want to call them so I also thought of making a sort of summoning key," when Kakashi looked at her confused, Lucy elaborated, "remember when Rogue explained that my ancestors were the ones to originally construct the keys, well, what if I could make some sort of mailing system using the Celestial Realm to connect one destination to the next," Lucy exclaimed,

"so would you create a second key to connect it to or the person?" Kakashi wondered,

"it would have to be another key or else they won't be able to respond," Lucy thought out loud, "Rogue could give it to Yukino, she'll know how to use it."

Lucy and Kakashi saw Ino and Sakura walking towards them, "Lucy," Ino shouted excitedly and ran towards her, Sakura tensed but continued walking at a slower pace.

"Ino, how are you?" Lucy asked as Ino stopped in front of her,

"Good, I've been working a lot on my mind transfer jutsu, can I show you later?" Ino exclaimed excitedly as Sakura came up to them,

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said and nodded towards him,

"sure Ino, I think I have some free time tomorrow afternoon after my shift at the hospital," Lucy replied,

"Okay I'll meet you there then," Ino said with a smile and was getting dragged away by Sakura, Ino frowned slightly at Sakura but turned around to wave back at them before walking alongside Sakura herself,

"are you and Sakura still at odds?" Kakashi inquired, knowing full well what was going on,

"you know exactly what's going on and I'm not going to entertain your amusement," Lucy sniffed at him and kept walking,

"why don't you just tell her everything?" Kakashi asked as he walked up beside her, this wasn't the first time he had suggested this,

"like that would make much of a difference with her, when it comes to Sasuke she always hated me," Lucy sad with her head raised slightly,

"she might surprise you, Ino didn't hold it against you," Kakashi said, "in fact Ino looks up to you,"

"Ino and Sakura are very different, despite how self-centred Ino can be she was raised by ninja, she has lived with and seen the conflicts that take place between them." Lucy explained, "Sakura was raised by civilians, despite how much she has changed and learnt there are core values that only civilian families have that most likely won't change."

"and those are?" Kakashi inquired,

"blood family comes first," Lucy said and Kakashi looked up at her in surprise, it was not what he was expecting her to say, "when you come from a broken home, you quickly learn to appreciate the people who are there, the ones that choose to be there. Sakura's family has always been there and supported her, shown her love and understanding, she has never had to choose her family. It was only by learning through experience did she start to look at Naruto that way," Lucy explained,

"what about her connection to Sasuke?" Kakashi asked her,

"that's different, that girl fully intends to marry that boy one day, to her, he was always blood family," Lucy said and finished their conversation however started thinking about how herself and Ino came to an understanding.

 **Flashback**

Two weeks after Naruto left the village to train Lucy walked into the flower shop to pick up a dozen or so flowers for patients that she was currently treating at the hospital. Ino happened to be at the counter, "oh, Ino, could I please get these?" Lucy asked hesitantly, she assumed Sakura had told her everything, considering they were spending a lot more time together lately,

"sure," Ino said quietly and looked at the prices for all of the flowers, "Sakura told me about what happened," Ino started and Lucy was prepared to be yelled at but was surprised when Ino continued on just as quietly, "I was mad at first, but then I spoke with Shikamaru and he told me that if it were not for you, Choji might not have survived," Ino paused, "I may not understand why you didn't stop Sasuke but what I do know is, is that if I weren't for you I might have lost one if not both of my teammates," Ino took a deep breath and gathered up the flowers that Lucy was purchasing and made her way around the counter top, letting go of her deep breath Ino bowed deeply. Lucy took a step back in surprise, "thank you, for bringing my teammates back to me," Ino let out in a shaky voice and it seemed like she was holding back tears,

"Ino," Lucy whispered and put her hand on Ino's shoulder, "thank you," Lucy said and Ino stood up in surprise,

"why are you saying thank you?" Ino asked and before Lucy could explain she started talking again, "I mean, I've done nothing but be mean to you and act like a spoilt brat and you've done nothing but help me and my team and," but before she could go on Lucy placed her hand over Ino's mouth,

"I'm thanking you for thanking me," Lucy said and rubbed the back of her head, "I got to explain why I did what I did to Naruto in more depth and he understands but I also know that he's disappointed that I'm not going to help him. Sakura is well, being Sakura about it," Lucy explained and Ino nodded sympathetically,

"can you explain to me?" Ino asked, "like you did with Naruto?" she continued and Lucy smiled softly and nodded, both girls went to sit down on a bench behind the counter.

 **Time skip**

"You were tortured by that freak?" Ino shouted in shock,

"yep," Lucy confirmed, both Ino and herself had spent the last half hour talking, occasionally stopping so Ino could serve a customer, "I was there for 11 months, I saw and did many things there Ino," Lucy said softly,

"but it was all to survive right? So it's all okay," Ino exclaimed,

"I'm afraid the world isn't that simple, a bad deed is still a bad deed no matter the reason behind it," Lucy explained, "I've killed people there Ino," Lucy whispered and Ino fell silent.

"We are ninja, it's how we protect our loved ones and our villages, is it ideal, no, but sometimes it's the only option we have," Ino stated like this was something that has been drilled into her since childhood and it probably was considering her family background, "some people don't belong in this world and that snake freak is one of them,"

"Maybe," Lucy conceded but didn't argue anymore, not because she didn't agree with her but because she did.

 **Flashback end**

Later on that day Lucy was sitting at Ichiraku Ramen with Rogue and Haku sitting to either side of her, "how was your mission Lucy?" Haku asked as soon as they sat down, Haku was no longer an active ninja, instead he was teaching academy students about medicinal herbs and emergency first aid, Lucy was teaching him actual medical ninjutsu and when she deemed him to be ready he'll be able to work at the hospital.

"it was okay, long but a success," Lucy replied,

"have you written to Naruto lately?" Haku asked,

"not since I came back to the village a couple of months ago," Lucy shook her head,

"are you still working on what Jiraiya gave you?" Rogue inquired,

"yes, seals are a lot more difficult than anything else I've learnt here," Lucy said and dragged a hand down her face, "it requires a lot of chakra and concentration, if my magic mixes in with it, it wont work, that seal that Tsunade placed on me can only do so much, I've never had to move my magic to such extremes before,"

"have you considered creating your own set of seals that allow magic?" Rogue asked,

"the only problem with that is that I wouldn't even know where to begin, that's Levy's and Freed's forte," Lucy replied and suddenly looked up at Rogue, "if anyone can figure out how the seals here work it would be them, if I somehow find a way to store chakra into objects could you take it to them?" Lucy asked him,

"of course but how are you going to do that?" Rogue asked,

"well, chakra is the spiritual energy within one's own body, combined with the physical energy of said person. When done right, it manifests into something physical, a clone for example, that holds chakra until said person expels it or doesn't have enough energy to keep it," Lucy explained, "I'd just need to be able to break the connection from the object of chakra from myself without it dispelling,"

"again how do you plan to do that?" Rogue asked her,

"I was just getting to that," Lucy sniffed, "If I can combine magic and chakra together when creating ninjutsu then the jutsu might stay present, Like a semi-permanent clone. Magic reacts differently when released into nature, it doesn't disappear like chakra does it disperses but it's still heavily present." Lucy said,

"so if you create a clone, with a combination of chakra and magic power, once the chakra has left the clone the clone should still remain present for a time because of the magic?" Haku asked her,

"yes in theory but I would need to stabilise it because one the chakra disappears it's not balanced," Lucy mumbled,

"you know, this would be a lot easier to do in our world," Rogue said, "the laws of nature are so complicated here,"

"yeah, I mean I've seen some crazy things happen here but back in our world things like immortality are possible, albeit curse but possible," Lucy said,

"really?" Haku asked,

"yep, not just that but things like dragons and demons have the ability to exist," Rogue said, "dragons are extinct though and I'm pretty sure the only demons left on Earthland are either man-made or summoned," he explained,

"Like Lucy's spirits?"

"not really, people would do these rituals in order to summon demons and would have to sacrifice something in order to summon them, Lucy's magic is nothing like that but the premise is similar," Rogue explain to him, Rogue and Haku have grown closer over these past 2 years but they still weren't the best of friends more like acquaintances.

"okay I have a shift at the hospital that I need to get to so I'll see you guys later," Lucy said and left enough money to cover for all three of them and walked away.

 **Time skip**

Lucy wiped the sweat from her forehead and started washing up her hands, she had to work double shifts until Haku had finally come to take over for her. Lucy heard a scoff from behind her and turned to see Sakura looking at her smugly and Lucy just sighed and rolled her eyes before finishing packing up,

"who do you think you are to roll your eyes at me," Sakura demanded, Lucy tried to ignore her and move past her out of the hospital, "do not ignore me, I am the apprentice of the 5th Hokage, who are you to ignore me,"

"I am your superior, in other words I am your boss, I am the co-head of this hospital and a private informant of the 5th Hokage, I handle things for her when she cannot and you will start to show me respect while at work," Lucy took on an authoritarian tone, "I have allowed exceptions because you are good at what you do and I leave my personal matters at home; however, this blatant disrespect while in the workplace is unacceptable, you might be the 5th Hokages apprentice but I am the one that convinced her to take you on," Lucy said, Sakura looked shocked and angry, "now put aside your personal issues with me and do your job, you are a medic ninja now go be one," with that Lucy forcefully pushed past Sakura and made her way out of the hospital to go home.

Angrily pushing the door open Lucy took off her shoes and made her way to the living room, flopping onto it with a groan Lucy rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes, "hard shift?" Kakashi asked as he came into the room, hearing Lucy get home,

"yes but that's usual, no I ran into Sakura on my way out and she tried to start something," Lucy said slowly sitting up, Kakashi sat on the opposite side of the couch,

"but that's also usual, so why did it bother you so much this time?" Kakashi asked,

"because this wasn't just us bumping into each other in the street, this was at work, a place where we save and lose lives. Sakura tried to pull the fact that she's Tsunade's apprentice over me, in that hospital I am her boss and she is to keep her personal issues out of it," Lucy stressed, Kakashi pulled Lucy's feet onto his lap and rested his hand on her ankles,

"maybe if Sakura wasn't being kept in the dark about so much she would be able to control herself in the work place," Kakashi said and Lucy groaned out loud,

"you're not meant to give me sound advice after a long day, you're meant to blindly agree with me and tell me I'm right no matter what," Lucy flopped onto the couch,

"sorry," Kakashi chuckled and cleared his throat, "you're absolutely right Lucy, there's no way to fix the situation that you're in, would you like some strawberry milk?" Kakashi said sarcastically,

"aw thanks Kakashi that would be great," Lucy smiled at him sweetly knowing he was joking but really wanted strawberry milk, Kakashi sighed and got up to walk to the kitchen to get her what she wanted. Lucy smiled happily as she drank her beloved drink and Kakashi sat back down where he was,

"ready to listen to what I said first?" Kakashi questioned her,

"why are you so adamant that I tell Sakura of all people something so personal anyway?" Lucy grumbled, she hated when Kakashi didn't agree with her, not because she always thought she was right but because they were both stubborn and neither of them let up,

"because she was apart of the team as much as the boys were," Kakashi started,

"of course I know that, in fact I was the one that convinced you to treat her as a kunoichi and not just a girl," Lucy grumbled a little offended at what Kakashi was saying,

"that's not what I mean, despite the fact that you tried to get closer to Sakura you still treated her differently to the boys. You treated the boys like family and Sakura was always left in the dark, even when you tried to be closer to her you still kept her at a distance," Kakashi said,

"I kept her at a distance because I've seen her use someone's insecurities and vulnerabilities against them, all for a boy that paid no attention to her. Did you know that Sakura was the one to end her friendship with Ino because she found out that Ino had feelings for Sasuke? Did you know that Ino was going to give up on those feelings for Sakura?" Lucy said, "I didn't trust Sakura the way I did the boys, because at least I knew that they wouldn't use the vulnerabilities that I had shown them against me,"

"what about now? Everyone has grown and changed since back then," Kakashi said, "would you trust Sasuke now the way you did then? Would you even trust Naruto that way?" Lucy looked down and away at this, "so why not give Sakura the chance now?"

"after the way she keeps treating me?" Lucy argued back, "I am not comfortable with Sakura knowing such intimate knowledge about me, knowing that it is very likely if we are at odds again in the future she will use it against me,"

"she might surprise you Lucy, she's grown up a lot," Kakashi said gently,

"you barely even talk to her these days," Lucy pouted stubbornly, he sighed at her turned to fully face her on the couch,

"I think it would make your life a lot easier if you two just came to an understanding, you have a lot going on and being at odds with a co-worker isn't going to help you," he said reasonably,

"I know you're right but she gets more difficult to be around every time I see her," Lucy groaned and just fell onto Kakashi's shoulder,

"go to bed Lucy, you just got back from a mission today and you worked double shifts, I'll tell Shizune that you're going to be sleeping in tomorrow and can only take the afternoon shift at the hospital," he said and helped her up from the couch,

"you going to see Shizune tomorrow?" Lucy asked him confused, he never went to the hospital voluntarily, Kakashi always just got Lucy to take care of his injuries and check-ups,

"we usually run into each other at the Hokages office,"

"so you'll be telling her that I can take an afternoon shift in the afternoon?" Lucy questioned knowing how late he could be,

"tomorrows mission is an S-rank so I'll be on time," Kakashi said,

"s-rank? Are you going with anyone?" she asked concerned,

"no it's a solo mission but I should be back not too long after you get off work," Kakashi assured her. Lucy still looked worried but started to make her way towards her room,

"I'll be giving you a once over when you get back then," it wasn't a question and Kakashi knew that even if he was fine she would or she would make him go to the hospital. Believe it or not Lucy was the lesser of those two evils. The female nurses and a couple of the male ones always tried to take a peak at what he looked like underneath his mask, sometimes it would be more than just his mask they wanted to peak at, the food was terrible, the chemicals gave him a headache and white of the walls always made him feel claustrophobic. Sitting still for a couple of minutes while Lucy looked over him with her eyes and letting her dab any scratch he had with disinfectant was definitely easier to deal with.

"good night," Kakashi called out and Lucy knew that while he didn't like it he agreed with her, Lucy knew that she was the lesser of two evils after all. Smirking at that thought she quickly cleaned herself up and got changed for bed, falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

 **Time skip**

Lucy was walking out of the hospital the next day and saw Ino waiting for her, "hello Ino, do you mind if I picked up something to eat on our way to the training grounds?"

"of course," Ino said and started leading the way towards the Udon place that she knows Lucy likes to order take out from, "you were a bit late today, busy afternoon?" Ino asked her worried,

"just a trainee made a couple of mistakes I had to oversee," Lucy sighed as the Udon place came into view and she ordered her usual,

"were they dangerous mistakes?"

"no they were easily fixable but that doesn't mean that they didn't receive any backlash from the other workers," Lucy rubbed the bridge of her nose, "a lot of them were tearing into the trainee and I had to diffuse the situation,"

"you'd think that they'd help when mistakes are made," Ino grumbled,

"unfortunately in hospitals it's different, mistakes can lead to death and if they make a mistake that's so simple then what's going to happen when a they're in a life or death situation," Lucy said and thanked the worker that brought her, her food,

"but everyone makes mistakes," Ino argued,

"I know that, that's why I didn't fire the trainee, but in our line of work I can only make so many allowances. I have warned them about making these mistakes and if they are having an off day then to let me know so I can plan ahead," Lucy said as Ino and herself started walking towards the training grounds,

"being in charge of a hospital must be stressful," Ino concluded,

"I have Shizune to help me but she can only do so much because she's Tsunade's advisory, and Tsunade is Hokage so she can't help nearly as much as she wants to,"

"you've taken on a lot all at once," Ino said admiringly, "adding extra classes into the academy, helping the 5th Hokage, changing the way the world view medical ninja," Ino tried to go on but Lucy shut it down quickly,

"Tsunade started that change during the war and helping Tsunade is mainly just dealing with the council because I have experience in politics, adding extra classes to the academy is something that Tsunade has wanted to do since she became a medical ninja and it's only been now that she's had a way to do it with these extra medics in training," Lucy explained to her,

"speaking about medics in training, I spoke to Sakura late last night," Ino brought up,

"oh great, what is it?" Lucy groaned,

"she doesn't know why you didn't go after Sasuke," Ino stated,

"no she doesn't,"

"why?"

"she didn't want to know," came Lucy's only reply, Ino stayed quiet for a while,

"I might have told her last night," Ino whispered and Lucy stopped walking,

"you what?" Lucy questioned her firmly,

"I may have told her after getting mad at her for complaining about you," Ino fiddled with her fingers nervously and Lucy sighed before continuing to walk towards the training grounds, "wait you're not mad at me?"

"oh I am but she was going to find out eventually, I'm just lucky it was you who told her and not someone like Orochimaru," Lucy said, "I'll speak to her about it another day," and with that they continued on their way.

When the sun had set Lucy made Ino stop, "okay that was great, you forced your way in a few times," Lucy said appraisingly to Ino, Ino was currently resting her hands on her knees and was breathing deeply,

"but you can still push me out, which means it's not perfect yet," Ino grumbled to herself,

"don't worry you'll get it, you've improved a lot since you became a Chunin," Lucy stated proudly, "a mind reading medic, now that's something,"

"oh please, Sakura's a better medic than I am and she has brute strength," Ino said looking down, "she improved so much over a small amount of time and here I am still in the same place,"

"because Sakura found her skill set, your skills rely mostly on long range fighting, aim, prediction and manipulation, its harder to think of ways to improve those because you can't just say add chakra weights to your training. Would they help of course, but it won't make you the best at what you're best at," Lucy explained to her, "Shikamaru told me that you're working on sensory skills," Lucy said,

"yeah, it's been going really slowly though,"

"any new skill will but I still think it'll be good for you, imagine connecting to someone's mind just by sensing them?" Lucy said, Ino smiled at her before they separated and Lucy went home to make sure that Kakashi had in fact gotten home on safe.

He didn't.

Lucy was not happy to walk in and see Kakashi all scuffed up, nursing a broken hand and dislocated shoulder. "alright, on three okay," Lucy said gently, "one, two," and with that she snapped his shoulder into place and he groaned,

"I thought you said on three," he complained,

"I did and I did it ON three," Lucy said teasingly but healed his hand completely considering she thought the shoulder was enough punishment for him not being careful,

"so guess what I got told after I came back from my mission," Kakashi said,

"what?" Lucy asked,

"guess who's coming back to the village in a few days?" Kakashi asked her and Lucy looked up at him from the cut she was currently cleaning,

"really?" she asked, "he's done with training?" she asked,

"sort of," Kakashi said,

"does this have anything to do with the information I came back with yesterday?" Lucy said referring to her mission,

"I suspect it does but I'm not allowed to know everything yet," Kakashi grumbled, "so I'm not going to be going on missions for the next few days so I can test him,"

"I suppose you'll also be testing Sakura?" Lucy asked,

"yes I think so," Kakashi said carefully and looked at her, "is there something wrong with that?" Kakashi asked,

"Ino told her everything last night," Lucy said,

"ahh," Kakashi said not knowing what else to say,

"so I suppose in a few days I'm not going to have a choice but to discuss things with her," Lucy said and finished cleaning up Kakashi, "and make sure she doesn't go spreading it around," Lucy smirked,

"Lucy," Kakashi warned her,

"what I'm not going to hurt her," Lucy protested, "Just tell her that it's sensitive information and if others were to find out about it, I can make life difficult for her,"

"and how exactly would you do that?" Kakashi questioned her,

"tell Tsunade,"

"you'll tell on her?" he questioned, "real mature Lucy," he said,

"what, you want me to take care of it myself and not let someone who cares about the both of us handle it?" Lucy questioned and while what she said made sense Kakashi also knew that Tsunade holds a certain level of respect towards Lucy, well that and Lucy takes care of the council for Tsunade when it's appropriate and if what happened were to get out then the one responsible would be in a lot of trouble.

"just make sure you don't threaten Sakura's progress," Kakashi said,

"of course not, Sakura is good at what she does, I'm not going to stop that just because I don't like her, however, I can make it so she has to take on more shifts at the hospital then what she is now as a punishment, which means limited missions," Lucy said smirking,

"alright fine," Kakashi conceded, it was the same as him getting d-rank missions as a punishment which is the equivalent to getting a slap on the wrist.

The next few days Kakashi had off and Lucy was teaching at the academy with Haku and Gemini, trying to get more people interested in the medical field, while all students will learn basic first aid their aim is to get one third of graduates in the medical field, which is at least one person in a three man squad. Lucy also got Capricorn involved in teaching the kunoichi class Tai Chi and she is also trying to get Hinata involved but currently she's too shy to teach.

Walking through town Lucy smiled as she saw Ebisu and his Genin chasing Tora through town, _'Naruto why do you have scratches all over you?'_ Lucy heard her own voice ask in her head and continued to smile at the memory. Meanwhile two very distinct people were making their way towards the village.


	28. Chapter 28

Lucy was walking towards the Hokage's office after she had been summoned, when she looked up towards the Hokages office window and saw two figures sitting outside of it, "Naruto," Lucy whispered, "back already huh?" she smiled but continued at her leisurely pace, "how was the rest of his training, Jiraiya?" Lucy asked seemingly at nothing but knew that he was there watching her from a tree,

"it was good, he showed progress," came the old perverts voice as he landed beside her, "how have those seals been coming along?"

"slowly," she replied and hunched over slightly, "I'm currently working on making my own,"

"that's going to be incredibly difficult," Jiraiya commented,

"gee thanks," Lucy huffed and when they came up to the Hokages building she started walking up the side of it instead of walking through the door. Jiraiya chuckled to himself at the way she dismissed him, this happened a lot when Lucy was travelling with him and the brat. However, that was mostly because once Lucy's body began developing he would always ask her to model for him, for 'research' as he always put it, she never did of course but for whatever reason Jiraiya never peeked on her while she was in the hot springs. What Lucy didn't know was that both Tsunade and Kakashi had a 'discussion' with him before she joined their training.

Lucy made it to the window Kakashi was currently sitting on and put her lips close to his ear, "that better not be what I think it is in your hands Kakashi," Lucy said lowly as she spotted the book that was currently being clutched in Kakashi's hand,

"umm, I don't know what you're talking about," Kakashi said and tried to hide it from her,

"oh no you don't," Lucy said and tackled him, wrestling him for the book, "give it, you have enough perverted books," she yelled, Lucy heard Tsunade sigh tiredly from behind her but she didn't pay her any mind. Kakashi had managed to push her away and stand up, "Kakashi," Lucy said lowly, and Kakashi ended up stuffing the book down the front of his pants, "you think that will stop me?" Lucy scoffed shocking the people in the room with the exception of Tsunade who laughed, "I've seen you bare as a baby's bottom on the day it was born Kakashi, getting a book out of your pants is not an issue for me," Tsunade kept laughing as Kakashi gulped, Sakura blushed a bright red and Naruto spluttered, "oh get your minds out of the gutter, he doesn't go to the hospital so I'm the one that heals him," Lucy said, "Like I would ever with Kakashi anyway," she then added,

"hey," Kakashi said and this time it was Naruto's turn to laugh, "what's wrong with me?"

"you really want to pull at that thread?" Lucy sniffed, Naruto laughed harder quickly followed by Tsunade and Lucy could hear Sakura snigger from besides them,

"you having trouble with the ladies Kakashi?" Jiraiya said as he sat at the window that Lucy and Kakashi were just at,

"I don't know if I would call Lucy," Kakashi started but Lucy started to force her magic and charka to the surface, making her hair lift up,

"finish that sentence Kakashi," Lucy said and turned to look at him, "I dare you," she gave him a frozen stare,

"out of my league, completely out of my league she is," he stuttered out and took a step back.

 _'At least I'm not the only one scared of her,'_ Jiraiya thought to himself and he laughed along with everyone else at the two,

"that's what I thought," Lucy smiled and looked at where Sakura and Naruto were standing, Sakura tensed slightly and Lucy knew she would have to talk to her today, "Naru," Lucy said pulled Naruto to her and hugged him,

"Lucy," Naruto said embarrassed but didn't push her away. Lucy ran her hands through his hair and he completely relaxed in her hold, Tsunade smiled at them slightly and so did Sakura a little,

"damn I'm jealous," Jiraiya grumbled loudly so everyone could hear, Tsunade rolled her eyes and Naruto finally lifted his head to glare at him,

"I told you Pervy Sage, Lucy is off limits," Naruto yelled,

"I also told you that," Kakashi spoke up glaring at the Toad Sage,

"as did I," Tsunade added, Lucy smirked at Jiraiya,

"did they now?" Lucy asked,

"and I have been the perfect gentleman," Jiraiya said sweating slightly, Lucy rolled her eyes and turned to Tsunade,

"what have you called me here for?" Lucy asked and everyone turned their attention to Tsunade,

"well I actually got you here so that you could watch the test," Tsunade said, "I thought you would like to see how these two have improved since they were last a team,"

"sure, when do they start?" Lucy asked,

"actually," Kakashi said and everyone turned to him, "I'm sure Naruto needs his rest after travelling such a long way, we'll meet up at the training grounds in a few hours," he said and got the book out of his pants but poofed away when Lucy made to grab it from him,

"oh that lazy pervert couldn't wait just one day," Lucy grumbled and jumped out of the window after him.

"maybe he isn't having as much trouble with the ladies as I thought," Jiraiya

"she just called him a lazy pervert," Naruto said,

"that may be so but she still went after him," Jiraiya chortled out loud.

A few hours later Lucy had landed on the fence post besides Kakashi, "you finished it yet?" she asked stiffly and folded her arms over one another,

"almost, their seems to be a major plot twist in this last part but I'm gonna save it for later," Kakashi said and snapped the book shut and placed it in his ninja pouch,

"shouldn't you finish it so you're not distracted?" Lucy asked him,

"nah it'll be fine," he waved her off and she sighed,

"fine hurry up, I want to see those two kick your butt finally," Lucy said and jumped away,

"I don't know if they could do that just yet," Kakashi said and followed after her, they both landed in the training fields that team 7 took that first bell test in,

"finally," Naruto complained,

"yeah took you long enough," Sakura weighed in,

"alright I'm off to find a safe place to watch," Lucy said before they could all get into it, "kick his butt you two, he'll probably end up trying to finish this early so he can finish his stupid book," she rolled her eyes and jumped away.

 **Time skip**

Lucy smirked at Kakashi once she landed beside him, "now what was it that I said before you got here?" she teased him,

"you were right, I should of just gone ahead and finished it," Kakashi whimpered with his shoulders hunched,

"so what do you think Kakashi?" Tsunade asked as herself, Shizune and Jiraiya appeared in front of them,

"well, they got the bells," Kakashi pointed out and shrugged,

"so then it's decided," Tsunade announced,

"what's decided?" Naruto asked,

"Naruto Uzamaki," Tsunade announced,

"ahh yes," he said confused,

"speak up,"

"yes ma'am," Naruto stood up a little straighter,

"Sakura Haruno,"

"Mi'Lady," Sakura replied with just as much command as Tsunade,

"Lucy Heartfilia,"

"Tsunade," Lucy replied with the same tone, everyone besides Tsunade looked at Lucy with surprise, they were even more surprised when Tsunade didn't correct her,

"You three have shown that you all have improved over these past two and a half years," Tsunade started looking at all three of them, "Naruto and Sakura, you two will now become a team again along with your old sensei,"

"what does that mean?" Sakura asked,

"it means that the time between student and sensei is over" Kakashi announced, "we will now be considered as equals,"

"you will now be known as Team Kakashi," Tsunade announced, "and now, Lucy," Tsunade turned to Lucy, "these past two years you have changed the way most ninja see medical ninja and the necessity at which it needs to be implemented into the academy, you have taken the limited resources we have and turned it into an entirely new sector of the hospital specifically to teach medics in training. You have kept the council quiet and have been a trusted informant since my very first day,"

"umm okay," Lucy sort of agreed, not knowing where Tsunade was going with this, "wait, please tell me you're not giving me more to do," Lucy asked tiredly,

"don't interrupt," Tsunade snapped and cleared her throat, "you will no longer be in charge of an academy class nor will you be a full time medic from now on," Lucy was surprised by this and was about to protest when Tsunade continued, "Instead you will become a Jonin sensei and train a three man Genin squad, a couple times a week other Genin who have expressed an interest in medical ninjutsu will join you,"

"what?" Lucy asked, "you can't be serious,"

"I thought you would be happy with less to do?" Tsunade sniffed,

"I am but I can't be your informant if I have to babysit baby ninja," Lucy reminded Tsunade,

"Hey, I just became a Chunin," Sakura exclaimed,

"and technically I'm still a Genin," Naruto also huffed, "is this what you thought of us when you helped Kakashi train us before?"

"Yes," Lucy didn't hesitate to answer, "but that was different, I wasn't your designated teacher and I had more time back then," Lucy defended,

"still cheap shot," Sakura grumbled,

"you will still be able to do your missions, they aren't very often anyways," Tsunade said and Lucy was about to protest again but Tsunade continued, "and don't worry about the hospital, I will now be the sole head with Shizune as my second, you will still be on call though so instead of coming to my office when summoned just go straight to the hospital,"

"but,"

"the new set of Genin will be graduating soon so you better start thinking of what you want to teach them first," Tsunade said and left,

"wait," Lucy yelled but hunched over when Tsunade disappeared. Kakashi moved forward and put a hand on her shoulder,

"isn't this a good thing, you'll have enough time to focus on that personal project of yours now," Kakashi reassured Lucy,

"that's not why I protested,"

"then why did you?"

"the kids at the academy are still afraid of Haku and won't listen to anyone but me," Lucy panicked, "now how are we going to get more medics onto the field?" she stressed. Kakashi laughed at her, "this is serious Kakashi,"

"but can still be left for another day," he said and started pushing her towards the gates out of the training fields, the sun coming up behind them and Naruto and Sakura strolling in front of them.

Walking through the town Lucy was beside Kakashi with Sakura and Naruto in the front, "I improved so much over these last few years that I might even be better than you Kakashi-Sensei," Naruto bragged,

"Now, I don't think you're up to my level just yet," Kakashi chuckled, "you know just the other day I worked out this incredible new jutsu and you wouldn't believe what," Kakashi cut himself off when he realised that neither Naruto or Sakura were listening, "I miss the old days when they would follow me around and stare in wonder at everything I said and did," Kakashi whined out sadly,

"don't worry Kakashi I still want to hear it," Lucy comforted him,

"really? Well it was really cool, it actually," Kakashi started again but Lucy cut him off this time,

"just not right now," she said hastily and ran to catch up with Naruto and Sakura who were going to get something to eat. Kakashi's shoulders lowered significantly,

"a heartbreaker isn't she?" Jiraiya called out to him as he caught up with Kakashi. Kakashi hummed in reply,

"are you off again soon?" Kakashi wondered,

"yes, there's the lead that Lucy got that I need to chase up and I have delivered Naruto back into your care as promised," Jiraiya said quietly,

"Lucy and I will take care of things from here, just do what you need to do," he said and with that Kakashi poofed away to go finish up some paper work.

In another store Lucy was sitting next to Sakura, she had followed her after she ditched Naruto so that they could talk, "so Ino told you everything, well almost everything," Lucy said casually before she turned to the worker who had placed her food on the table and thanked him,

"yeah," Sakura said quietly, "why didn't you tell me?" she asked,

"do you remember what happened that day? You ran out not wanting to hear it," Lucy said and Sakura flinched, "although you're not the only one at fault, I didn't want you to know anyway," when Sakura turned back to look at Lucy in hurt and Lucy didn't bother sugar coating or make excuses, "what I went through was and still is an incredibly sensitive topic and I didn't trust you with that information," Lucy took a bite of her food, "back then you were the type of person to use someone's insecurities and past against them in order to get what you want and Sasuke always has and always will be your priority," Lucy said and when Sakura tried to protest Lucy continued, "I understand that you still care about him, but when it came to Sasuke no one else's feelings mattered to you,"

"but I still deserved to know, both Sasuke and Naruto knew, I was a part of Team 7 too," Sakura protested,

"my past has nothing to do with you all being a team and the fact that you haven't listened to what I just said proves to me that you still haven't matured that much," Lucy said sternly, Sakura flinched at her words because she knew they were true, she was lashing out because she was hurt. "Sakura I'm not saying this to hurt you, I'm saying this because you need to know the sheer magnitude of the information about me that you know. A lot of this is Jonin level classification and if it gets out than not only will people be after me but also you for knowing and a lot of rumours that could ruin my reputation might go around,"

"so you care about the rumours?" Sakura scoffed slightly,

"not necessarily, but if my rep goes down then so does everything I'm working on, which includes getting more medical ninjas onto the field," Lucy said, "personally I could care less about what you or any other in this village thinks of me but the programs that I have started may just save millions one day," with that Lucy paid for both of their meals and left the small stall.

Sakura was hunched over as she walked along the road towards her house thinking about what Lucy said. Sakura knew that Lucy was right, that she was always right; Sakura just didn't know how to go about talking to Lucy. Lucy was someone that Sakura secretly looked up to and admired but she was also jealous of her and that jealousy over ran any kind of affection that seemed to grow. Sakura also knew that this issue had nothing to do with Lucy but her own insecurities,

"yo, Sakura," Sakura looked up at whoever called out to her and was surprised to find that it was Kakashi,

"Kakashi-sensei what are you doing here?" she asked,

"taking a stroll to clear my head before I get back to that paper work," Kakashi waved off and Sakura scoffed in disbelief, "now, now there's no need to be like that, I saw you walking at night dejectedly and saw fit to call out to you as a teammate," Kakashi halfheartedly defended. Sakura sighed loudly and hunched her shoulders once again,

"I just spoke to Lucy," Sakura whispered,

"ahh yes, Lucy mentioned that she was going to speak to you about what Ino told you," Kakashi said to move things along, "so, what did she say?"

"basically told me to keep it to myself and that she doesn't trust me," Sakura grumbled out,

"did she tell you why though?" Kakashi pressed,

"more or less," Sakura admitted,

"ahh, then I don't think I should interfere," Kakashi said and started to walk home he travelled about five steps away before he heard Sakura call out to him. When he turned back to face her she was looking very embarrassed,

"how do I fix it?" she asked and Kakashi smiled slightly under his mask, not that Sakura could tell,

"how about we talk while I walk you home?" Kakashi said and turned around to start heading in the direction of Sakura's house with Sakura herself walking beside him.

The next morning Lucy was in the living room with all of the possible graduates academic files around her looking at possible teams and students she might be taking on and that's exactly how Kakashi found her several hours later, "you came back late," Lucy mentioned,

"yeah, I was walking around while finishing Jiraiya's book before I came back to finish more paper work," Kakashi waved her off slightly and Lucy scrunched her nose at him before just shrugging it off and going back to what she was doing, "I'm going on a mission with Sakura and Naruto this morning and we both know how unpredictable that could be," Kakashi said as he grabbed an apple and started to walk out of the door,

"Good luck," Lucy sang out from behind him and continued to make notes on the academies graduating class.

Kakashi greeted Sakura and Naruto as he walked up to them at a leisurely pace, "you're late," Naruto accused and pointed at Kakashi,

"I had to write up the documentation for the new team and it took a while," Kakashi rubbed the back of his head,

"this is our new teams first mission and you don't even care, you're always like that I don't know how Lucy puts up with you," Naruto complained,

"be quiet Naruto, Kakashi-sensei has never been one to show excitement and I doubt he's going to start anytime soon," Sakura sort of defended Kakashi,

 _'_ _I'm seriously loosing face here,'_ Kakashi thought to himself as he followed Sakura and Naruto to Tsunade's office. Where Naruto instantly started to complain,

"I'm not doing a mission like that," he shot down,

"you got a problem?" Tsunade said harshly, Kakashi looked at Naruto tiredly and a little worried,

"well your personality hasn't changed much" Iruka said,

"my apologies Mi'lady, just let me talk to him," Sakura rushed out and grabbed Naruto in a head lock.

"The 3rd was way more understanding," Naruto grumbled,

"you say something?" Tsunade slammed her hand down on her desk, Sakura was in the middle of reprimanding him when someone burst through the door,

"Lady Fifth, Emergency. We've received word from the sand, the Kazekage has been captured, by the Akatsuki," the messenger woman announced panicked and everyone started to look worried, Tsunade closed her eyes for a moment before opening them,

"Someone send for Lucy Heartfilia immediately," she demanded and the messenger ran right back out of the room, "Team Kakashi, I'm assigning you a new mission and Lucy will be joining you, go to the Hidden Sand village at once, get a grasp of the situation there and report back to the leaf. After that follow any orders the Sand gives you and back them up."

All four of them were at the gate with Iruka, Tsunade and Rogue behind them, "okay we're off," Naruto said back to them,

"alright Mi'lady we're off," Sakura saluted,

"do your best," Iruka smiled towards Naruto then looked at Lucy, "be careful," he said to her,

"yeah," Naruto confirmed and Lucy nodded before turning to Rogue,

"Don't do anything stupid," Rogue said before walking away,

"hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Lucy shouted, all of them started walking away but Jiraiya interrupted them.

"Going on a mission huh Naruto?" he said,

"Yep,"

"By the way Tsunade, the Sand's Kazekage," Jiraiya started but Tsunade interrupted him.

"I know, I'm sending these guys off there now," Tsunade pointed at them. Jiraiya leaned in the whisper in her ear before pulling Naruto off to the side to speak with him, when they finished Naruto started moving ahead,

"let's get a move on guys," he called back to them,

"Wait a minute Naruto," Sakura called out to him as she ran to catch up, Lucy and Kakashi waved back to them as they also started walking.

As they were all jumping through the trees Sakura spotted someone on the ground walking, "Temari," she called out and they all jumped down to her, Sakura explained the situation to her.

"It'll take us three days to reach the sand from here so we better hurry," Kakashi told her and with that they were all off again. Except Naruto was beginning to speed up even more and split off from everyone, Lucy sped up to catch up to him, "Just because I said to hurry doesn't mean you should split up from the team. Naruto calm down, didn't Jiraiya just warn you about your temper?" Kakashi said,

"I can't stand it," Naruto growled out, "even I know why they're after me and Gaara, you still don't know, do you Sakura?" Naruto said, "Inside of me, is sealed the nine tailed beast," everyone behind Naruto just looked at him sad, except for Temari who looked slightly shocked, "me and Gaara, because we have monsters inside of our bodies, that's what they're after," Naruto started to raise his voice, "that's what I can't stand. Just seeing us as monsters, I can't stand them looking at us whatever way they feel like. Gaara and I are the same and he was fighting, he was lonelier than I was. Gaara was targeted by the Akatsuki just like I was, even so. Why is it always Gaara? Why does he always have such a hard role? Always him alone?" Naruto was yelling at this point, "That's why, that's why I won't just sit around asking 'why', this time, I want to save him,"

Temari looked at Naruto speechless, _'Naruto Uzumaki,'_ Temari thought before she closed her eyes, _'Thank you.'_

"Naruto. You've gone through a lot haven't you?" Sakura started not long after Naruto finished his speech, "Itachi Uchiha, you're his target," she stated and Naruto looked shocked, "I wasn't just training myself these past two and a half years. I was looking through Tsunade's and Lucy's notes, researching as much as I could. The person that Sasuke wants to kill, it's really his older brother Itachi Uchiha isn't it? A Member of Akatsuki, because of that Sasuke is now with Orochimaru to gain power. Orochimaru just wants Sasuke's body, doesn't he? And all we have left is half a year," Sakura continued to explain, "and Orochimaru was originally a member of Akatsuki, in other words what I'm trying to say, is that as we get closer to Akatsuki, we get closer to information about Orochimaru and therefore, we get closer to Sasuke and our time limit of about six months," Sakura concluded,

"yeah," Naruto confirmed everything Sakura just said, Lucy had not said a word this entire time. Choosing not to weigh in on the conversation and was trying to ignore the looks Kakashi sent her when Sakura had mentioned that she was looking through her notes, because Lucy no doubt knew about it.

Three days later they arrived outside the Sand Villages gates where someone was waiting for them, "The Kazekage was taken, after that Kankurou went after them but he was wounded," he explained as he lead them through the village. Temari panicked, "he was caught by the enemies poison and we have no idea how to neutralize it, at this rate he has half a day at most,"

"Temari," Lucy called out and everyone looked at her, "take us to him, Sakura and I will take care of it." Lucy and Sakura bounded into the infirmary right after Temari, with Naruto and Kakashi not that far behind.

"The White Fang of the Leaf," an old women said and jumped into action,

"hey, back off Lady," Lucy shouted but didn't stop moving towards Kankurou, Naruto stood in front of him instead,

"I remember that time, the White Fang of the Leaf, my son's enemy, I will get my revenge for him today," the old lady said,

"wait, no, I'm not," Kakashi tried to say but the old lady wasn't listening,

"Sister, take a look, there's a strong resemblance but he isn't the White Fang," an old man said as he put his arm up in front of the lady. Lucy sighed as both herself and Sakura started examining Kankurou.

"hey you two, who do you think you are?" someone protested,

"we are Leaf Medical Ninja," Sakura announced proudly, Lucy activated her eyes and Sakura started to listen to his heart,

"they seemed to have used a metal-based toxin," Lucy said and Sakura nodded in agreement with her,

"the type that attacks muscle tissue and destroys the cell," Sakura added on as she lifted her head, "the cardiac muscle will be destroyed,"

"and his heart could stop beating any moment now, meaning it's uncertain if we can create an antidote in time," Lucy finished for her,

"are you saying there's nothing you can do?" Temari cried out,

"now I didn't say that," Lucy said and turned to Sakura who nodded in confirmation, "we're going to need these things immediately," Lucy demanded and two Sand medics straightened up at the tone. Lucy listed off the things that they needed while Sakura made sure that the drip was in order and correctly placed. The Sand medics came back with several containers of a greenish liquid and placed it onto the small table that Sakura pushed to Lucy's side, "you do it Sakura, I'll guide you," Lucy said with her eyes still activated. Sakura looked at Lucy surprised but took her place while Lucy opted to stand by Kankurous head where she could hold him down and have a better view at the same time. Sakura placed her hand in the liquid and when she pulled it out the liquid grabbed onto her and lifted out of the container as well. Lucy guided her hand over Kankurous heart as a place to start,

"alright," Sakura said and started pushing the liquid into Kankurous body, but Kankurou struggled with the pain, Lucy had a tight grip on his shoulders but he was still kicking his legs, "hold him down," Sakura demanded Temari and the other Sand Medics in the room, once they got a hold of him, Sakura was able to sink the liquid into his skin and Lucy watched it seep into his heart. Lucy was watching the toxins surface from the organ and become absorbed by the liquid, Sakura snapped open her eyes and looked towards Lucy who nodded at her, and she began to slowly pull the toxins out of Kankurous body. Once it all was extracted Sakura placed the liquid back into the container and demanded another. They continued with this repeatedly until Lucy told Sakura switch with her for a while and then repeated the cycle again, Sakura finished up the procedure by getting the last of the toxins that Lucy could see out of his lower stomach and they both told Temari that Kankurous life was no longer in danger.

"Now we have to make an antidote just incase we missed anything, please get us a list of all the medicinal herbs you have available, also set aside some of the toxins that Sakura extracted, we'll be needing it later and make sure you set up Kankurou with a brand new drip," Lucy commanded and Sakura looked up at Lucy with awe, the Sand medics were following her orders directly.

"you two are a lot like that Slug woman Tsunade, to think such girls like you would come," the old woman spoke to them both,

"well, Tsunade shishou taught the both of us," Sakura smiled, "and it was by her order that we come here." Lucy and Sakura were both lead to the medicine storehouse which doubled as a greenhouse that was catered to all different types of herbs,

"there are so many medicinal herbs here" Sakura praised as she worked on the antidote,

"yes it is quite impressive," Lucy also praised,

"we can make three antidotes with this many herbs," Sakura explained. After Lucy and Sakura were finished working on the antidote they made their way back up to Kankurous room, "drink it all," Sakura urged him to swallow the foul tasting antidote,

"you'll be fine now, however, until the paralysis wears off please don't move just rest up," Lucy spoke up,

"Right, lets go," Naruto demanded put his bag back on his back and handed Sakura her own while Kakashi handed Lucy her multiple small pouches.

"Naruto Uzumaki," Kankurou said, "please save my brother," he pleaded. Naruto smiled,

"Leave it all to me, because I will become Hokage someday too, so I'll secure a favour from the Kazekage in advance," he smirked and they all made their way out of the building where the old Lady who's Lucy now knew to be Chiyo convinced Temari to stay behind while she went with them.

They hadn't been travelling for very long before Sakura started asking questions about the Akatsuki and Naruto, Lucy decided not to be a part of this conversation and chose only to listen especially when Chiyo started talking about separating the tailed beasts but then they just went on to explaining what a Tailed Beast was and why they were so sought after during the Great Ninja War.

"Everyone stop," Kakashi said and put his arm out, not too far away from them stood Itachi Uchiha, "well this is sudden," Kakashi muttered,

"Itachi Uchiha," Naruto exclaimed.

Lucy mentally sighed, _'damn Itachi, causing me such trouble,'_ she thought tiredly,

"this is, the child who killed his entire family?" Chiyo exclaimed,

"it's been awhile, Kakashi, Naruto, Lucy," Sakura looked at Lucy in shock, no where in her notes did she mention Itachi, only Orochimaru.

"you bastard," Naruto yelled out, "not just me but Gaara as well, I'll take you all down," he pointed at Itachi,

"no one look into his eyes, it's dangerous," Kakashi yelled out and Lucy took this time to activate her eyes once again,

"then what do we do?" Sakura asked,

"judge his actions from the movement of his feet. Itachi's genjutsu in an eye jutsu, you'll be fine as long as you avoid eye contact," Kakashi explained,

"that's really difficult,"

"it's been quite some time since I've fought a Sharingan," Chiyo said gravely, "there's no need to be overwhelmed, there are many tactics for fighting this type of eye jutsu,"

"what should we do?" Naruto asked,

"if it's one on one, surely flee. If its two on one, take the rear," she said,

 _'_ _not a bad tactic if it were anyone else, but Itachi is different,'_ Lucy thought to herself as Chiyo finished explaining,

"well, that's alright for normal genjutsu level, but in this case, it will be a little more trouble." Kakashi explained, mirroring Lucy's thoughts,

"what do you mean?"

"he uses a genjutsu that surpasses the original Sharingan, the Mangekyou Sharingan. If you are struck by that, his genjutsu can affect you in an instant, there is no one who can get out of it once caught," Kakashi said, "the only one who managed to do it was," but was cut off by Lucy walking forwards in front of everyone,

"me," she said calmly, "I am the only one who can," everyone besides Kakashi stared at Lucy, there expressions in between shock and awe,

"that's Kakashi for you, knowing all of that just by being caught once," Itachi said,

"that's not all, after you used that jutsu, you became tired and immediately left the fight," Kakashi continued, "besides the fact that it uses a considerable amount of chakra, it also presents a great risk to your eyes as well doesn't it, Itachi?"

 _'_ _that's because without the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, overusing his eyes causes cancer like symptoms in his cells, the only way to recover from that would be to implant cells that regenerate into his body,'_ Lucy kept that to herself though, although now that she was standing in front of everyone so that couldn't see her face, she let some of the concern she felt for Itachi make its way through.

"well done, given that it's only been one fight," Itachi said,

"how far has your eye sight deteriorated?" Kakashi wondered out loud and pulled up his headband,

"Kakashi, impossible, you," Itachi started,

"last time I was unprepared, but I'm not like that this time. This won't go the same way as it did last time," Kakashi said,

"if you think I'll be the same too you're making a huge mistake," Naruto shouted,

"Naruto I'll handle him," Kakashi said,

"no you won't" Lucy announced, "he's mine," Lucy snarled, both Sakura and Naruto looked shocked at the tone of Lucy's voice,

"Lucy, we shouldn't be splitting up right now," Kakashi stressed, "let us cover you at least," he pleaded,

"Lucy we need to hurry up, now's not the time to prove something," Sakura also chimed in,

"you really think I'm so petty as to prove something at a time like this," Lucy said, "I'll be fine on my own but anymore time wasted here is less time to get Gaara,"

"we can finish this faster if we work together," Naruto said. Lucy sighed but didn't argue because she knew they wouldn't leave,

"we'll kindly ask you to come with us now, Naruto," Itachi said and pointed towards Naruto,

"you'll have to face me first," Kakashi said and raced forwards, towards Itachi attempting to punch him in the face. Naruto became still however,

"oh crap," Lucy said and started walking towards Naruto, "honestly so careless," she muttered,

"what do you mean?" Sakura asked,

"I thought you would be the one to understand first Sakura," Lucy said as she placed her hands either side Naruto's head,

"wait, he got caught in a genjutsu?" Sakura gasped,

"yeah he did, both of you place your hands on his shoulders," Lucy instructed, Chiyo and Sakura did as told,

"I thought you were the only one to break out of his genjutsu, why do you need our help?" Chiyo asked,

"I'm naturally immune to genjutsu, this makes it impossible for me to cast and difficult for me to expel in others, the only reason I can is because of chakra control and my eyes," Lucy explained, then all three of them forced chakra into Naruto's system and disrupted the flow of the genjutsu, snapping him out of it.

"are you alright Naruto?" Kakashi asked as he landed on the ground and slid back a couple of feet, Naruto stuttered and Lucy walked up to be beside Kakashi leaving Sakura to explain what happened to him, "right, it's finally time for the last battle, put your all into it, Naruto," Kakashi announced and Lucy looked at Kakashi sternly,

 _'_ _it appears as if he has volunteered me to stay in the background,'_ Lucy grumbled inside of her head, _'we are definitely talking when we get home,'_ Lucy thought to herself,

"Naruto, I'll show you how to do it," Kakashi called back to Naruto when Itachi started to make hand signs and blew a huge ball of fire in their direction. Sakura, Naruto and Chiyo all jumped back but Lucy changed into her Aquarius star dress and coated herself in a water barrier while Kakashi hid underground and sent a shadow clone towards Itachi.

The clone shot up out of the ground and tried to punch Itachi in the jaw but Itachi moved his head at the last moment. Itachi grabbed onto Kakashi's sleeve and pulled his arm downwards to the ground moving his upper body with him, Itachi then pulled him arm back in order to punch Kakashi but Kakashi ducked down. When Itachi's arm had flown past Kakashi's head he grabbed the back of Kakashi's head lifted it to make Kakashi look him in to eye to cast a genjutsu on the clone. The clone grabbed onto Itachi to keep him in place,

"no wonder, I wouldn't expect you to be affected by the genjutsu, this is a clone," Itachi said, the real Kakashi lifted himself out of the hole he made in the ground besides Lucy,

"take him and my clone out Naruto," Kakashi said while two Naruto's holding one giant rasengan sped towards Itachi,

"got it," they said together and slammed the huge rasengan into Itachi's stomach, "giant rasengan," they shouted together and created a huge crater in the ground where Itachi and Kakashi clone were. When the dust cleared Lucy, Sakura and Chiyo joined Naruto and Kakashi as they examined the body, but it was not the body Itachi Uchiha. Lucy was able to keep her sigh of relief at bay,

"he," Chiyo started,

"do you know this person?" Kakashi asked,

"yeah, Yuura, he's a Jonin from my village,"

"from the sand? What does that mean?"

"even I don't know,"

"could he have possibly been a spy?" Sakura asked,

"no way, he's been working hard as a leader for four whole years," Chiyo stuttered out,

 _'_ _that doesn't mean he wasn't a spy,'_ Lucy wanted to say but didn't out of respect,

"was he impersonating Itachi?" Naruto wondered,

"no, this isn't that level of jutsu," Lucy replied,

"she's right, the goukakyuu is a jutsu that the Uchiha clan worked out and use well and that was the real thing," Kakashi explained, "beaten again, looks like the real one's at the hideout. His objective was to delay and gather information about us, those criminals sure do have good jutsu," Kakashi worked out,

 _'_ _no, that wasn't Itachi's intention at all, if he really wanted to delay us, he would of taken a hostage, knowing Kakashi and his teachings, we would of gone after them.'_ Lucy thought to herself, _'but no one listens to me, otherwise you would of all gone ahead while I handled Itachi,'_ her thoughts continued bitterly,

"indeed, this was clearly stalling, there's no doubt about it; they've already started to extract the tailed beast," Chiyo said, "maybe they want to use the one-tails to make a new Jinchuuriki," Chiyo theorized,

"we have to hurry then," Kakashi said and Chiyo nodded,

"Jinchuuriki?" Sakura questioned before they could go anywhere,

"like I said, since the tailed beast have inconceivable power, every country wanted to use them for military affairs," Chiyo explained, "a Jinchuuriki is, so to speak something that controls that power,"

"but before you said that nobody could control that power," Sakura said,

"that is how it is, yes, but still, over time people over time have tried to control that power by sealing the tailed beasts inside of humans," Chiyo explained and Lucy clenched her fist at her words, even though she already knew all of this, "by doing that, the overwhelming power of the tailed beasts is compressed and can be directed," Naruto placed a hand on his stomach where the seal was, "and the ones who had a tailed beast sealed inside of them, people like Gaara, were called Jinchuuriki. The feature of Jinchuuriki is that they resonate with tailed beasts and can use inconceivable power, including Gaara, in the history of the sand, three Jinchuuriki have appeared so far." Chiyo explained.

Sakura looked pained as she looked down, "these Jinchuuriki were used, many times for war, weren't they?"

"yes,"

"how do you remove a tailed beast?" Sakura asked surprising Naruto,

"if for an instant, a sealing jutsu which releases the exact amount of power to match up with the tailed beast is used, that takes a considerable amount of time but, if that were to be done the Jinchuuriki would," Chiyo paused Sakura looked scared,

"you mean?" Sakura asked,

"yes, they die," Chiyo finished gravely, the two I mentioned before, the Jinchuuriki of the sand apart from Gaara, had the one tails extracted from their bodies and this cause their deaths," Sakura's eyes started to fill with tears.

"You're always being moved to tears Sakura, I told you not to worry," Naruto said and Sakura turned to him with her tears that just started to spill down her cheeks, "because I'll save Gaara," Naruto smiled at her.

"Naruto, it's you I'm," Sakura shouted but Naruto cut her off.

"Come on, let's hurry," Naruto announced and started walking off, shifting his bag as he did so.

Lucy placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder, "let's focus on the task at hand for now," Lucy whispered to Sakura and she nodded her head before wiping her tears away as they all began to follow Naruto before they all stopped for a break when night fall came.


End file.
